‘We’re excited’: Boston Duck Tour team ready to honor Celtics with rolling rally

BOSTON — The Boston Duck Tour team worked into the night Thursday to get their ducks boats ready for the Celtics players and their families to ride Friday for the Championship parade.

“We’ll be here until after midnight and then we’ll have an early morning tomorrow,” said Tom Vigna, marketing director at Boston Duck Tours. “They’ll remove the seats and install this flooring you see here, this roof slides up, some of them you have to remove and then the players who are much taller than I am can stand and celebrate with the fans.”

Vigna says luckily they have lots of experience with all the championships in Boston.

This will be their 13th parade.

The last one for the Celtics was in 2008.

Restaurant owners along the parade route are also busy, getting ready to host the big crowds.

“We’re here early and we’re gonna be staying late, so we’re excited about it,” said Bruno Marini, director of operations at Tavistock Restaurant Collection.

Abe and Louie’s and Atlantic Fish Company on Boylston Street will open an hour early Friday morning at 10:30 AM.

“Staff comes in early, streets get closed a little bit, so it’s kind of like planning for marathon on a different day, so we’re so used to doing it, we’re very fortunate to be on the marathon line,” said Marini. “So to us it’s another system of events we put into place with the staff.”

The barricades are already up on Causeway Street, where the parade will start outside TD Garden.

Then the duck boats will drive past City Hall Plaza, the Boston Common, and down Boylston Street, where it’ll end by the Hynes Convention Center.

“It’s great for the whole area, it’s great for the city of Boston,” said Marini.

And, 25 of the 28 duck boats will be used for the parade Friday.

The parade starts at 11 a.m. and should run for about 90 minutes.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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