DETROIT (AP) -For the third time this century, Detroit sports fans are heading downtown to celebrate a major sports championship.
Thousands of red-and-white-clad Wing nuts are expected to jam Woodward Avenue for a chance to see a parade Friday in honor of the team brought the Stanley Cup back to Hockeytown. It will end with a rally at Hart Plaza on the city's riverfront
These Red Wings are following in the footsteps of the 2002 team and the 2004 Pistons, who celebrated their triumphs with similar downtown processions. The Red Wings clinched the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
The weather should cooperate with sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s when the parade featuring Red Wings players, coaches and staff kicks off before noon at the Hockeytown Cafe.
Hundreds of Red Wings fans lined up hours ahead of the parade.
One woman was sprawled face-down on a blanket, catching some sleep after securing her position along the route. Others put on sunscreen and waved back to the occasional honk from supportive drivers going by.
Huntington Woods resident Erica Konstant, 34, said she arrived by 6 a.m., her young niece and nephew in tow.
``We wanted to soak in the excitement of the day,'' Konstant said. ``You meet some interesting people when you're here this early.''
While some clutched coffee mugs, Derrick Arnew and Brad Roets cracked open beers. The two arrived from Tilbury, Ontario, with eight others in an RV around midnight to camp out in a parking lot near the parade route.
``We just wanted to get here early and get a good spot,'' said Arnew, 33.
The group, which included one man with a goal-light hat, had their chairs set up near Hockeytown Cafe. They planned to barbecue in a nearby lot and brought water and juice to go along with the brews.
Roets, a 33-year-old longtime fan with a Red Wings tattoo on his shoulder, said he wanted to see one thing in particular at the parade: ``All their wives.''
Hours before the celebration was to begin, fans were lined up 10-deep and more behind the plaza's steel crowd-control barriers.
A syncopated ``Let's go Red Wings'' cheer started spontaneously to the left of the stage.
Blake Gordon had planned on attending his final day of the fourth grade in Oakland County's Commerce Township, but was surprised when his mother allowed him and his brothers to attend the Red Wings celebration.
``This is excellent, exciting and wonderful to see the Red Wings bring the Cup to our town,'' the 10-year-old said.
For his mother, Corinne Gordon, the parade was bridge-building.
``There's been so much doom and gloom and separation between the city and suburbs because of what the mayor has done,'' said Gordon, 37. ``This brings people together.''
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former top aide, Christine Beatty, face criminal charges, including perjury, stemming from testimony during a whistle-blowers' trial in which the pair denied having a romantic relationship. Kilpatrick and Beatty also are accused of lying under oath about their roles in the firing of a top police official.
They deny the charges.
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Associated Press Writer Margaret Harding and David N. Goodman contributed to this report.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
