Rabid Big Blue fans will flood the Canyon of Heroes today to watch Eli Manning and the Super Bowl champion Giants march up Broadway — and a lucky 500 will get to attend an exclusive City Hall ceremony afterward.
Officials doled out 250 pairs of tickets after holding an online lottery for New York residents. More than 50,000 people had entered.
The winners were notified at 2 p.m. and had six hours to rush to Midtown to claim their prize.
“I ran 15 blocks to get here. I’m sweating profusely, but I was so excited to win these tickets!” said fan Dominick Pace, 25, who read about the lottery in The Post yesterday morning and was the first on line to claim his prize at the Official NYC Information Center on Seventh Avenue at 52nd Street.
Parents said it was the perfect surprise for their kids and were even willing to let them play hooky to join in the celebration.
“My 6-year-old son, Jace, loves the Giants, and I’m gonna pull him out of school tomorrow to take him with me,” said Jolie Pivarnick, 35, of Long Island.
The ticker-tape parade will start at 11 a.m., and officials predicted the confetti left behind could top the record 57 tons crews cleaned up after the march honoring the Yankees’ 1999 World Series win.
The players were as pumped for the parade as their fans were.
“Oh, man, I can’t wait. I’ve talked to all these guys who did it in ’08. I was talking to [then-Giants punter Jeff] Feagles after the game, and he was like, ‘Man, soak it in! This is the greatest!’ ” punter Steve Weatherford said yesterday.
The parade will begin at Battery Place and Washington Street and roll up the Canyon of Heroes along Broadway to Worth Street. The City Hall Plaza festivities will follow, then there will be a rally at the Meadowlands with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 3 p.m.
The city plans to set up three large screens outside City Hall so more fans can see the ceremony.
With up to a million fans expected, Mayor Bloomberg said the festivities could pump up to $38 million into the city’s economy.
“The Giants’ Super Bowl victory was an incredible win for our city — and [the] ticker tape through the Canyon of Heroes will be another big win for New Yorkers and our small businesses,” he said.
The Downtown Alliance distributed thousands of pounds of confetti — donated by a Brooklyn recycling center — to buildings along Broadway. After the parade, the confetti will be swept up and brought back to the recycler.
“Lots of businesses have already been shredding paper. There are a lot of people who were sure the Giants were going to win,” said Joe Timpone, an alliance senior vice president.
Additional reporting by Josh Margolin and Josh Saul