PITTSBURGH _ City officials estimated the Penguins' championship parade through Downtown Wednesday attracted 650,000 people, which would make the crowd the largest in Pittsburgh history.
Operations chief Guy Costa and public safety director Wendell Hissrich offered the figure after the parade, which followed Grant Street from Liberty Avenue, turned right onto the Boulevard of the Allies and terminated at Point State Park after making another right onto Commonwealth Place.
The estimate is considerably higher than those offered for past parades. City officials said between 380,000 and 400,000 attended the Penguins' celebration after their Stanley Cup championship last year. That was previously believed to be the biggest crowd in the city's history. Marginally smaller crowds were estimated to have attended the Penguins' Stanley Cup parade in 2009 and Steelers Super Bowl parades in 2006 and 2009.
Pleasant weather may have helped. Temperatures were in the low 80s, and there wasn't any precipitation despite forecasts that included the possibility of rain.
