Valkyries Parade Draws Thousands to San Francisco’s Embarcadero for WNBA Championship Celebration

Thousands of Golden State Valkyries fans swarmed to San Francisco’s waterfront on Wednesday for a victory parade just days after the Bay Area’s WNBA team defeated the Atlanta Dream 68-63 to win the league championship. 

The win makes the Valkyries, only in their second season, the fastest basketball expansion team to ever clinch a WNBA championship title. 

“It means everything to me. It shows that these women put in so much effort to do everything here for the Bay and all the hard work that they put in,” said diehard fan Lie Crescini, who staked out a spot along the parade route at 7:30 a.m. 

Crescini flew in from Hawaii the same way she has for every home game and some away games. The Valkyries fandom, she said, is a huge part of what draws her. 

“It’s the best feeling ever because it’s like having 18,000 new family members that you actually like,” she said. “It’s a beautiful feeling … it’s a feeling that has definitely shaped my life.”

Fans decked out head-to-toe in the team’s signature violet were allowed to officially begin lining up along the parade route at 9 a.m. (the earliest city officials said they would let them) from the Ferry Building to 2nd and King streets.

Marnie Carter, a San Francisco resident who played basketball at the University of San Francisco and now works to encourage young girls to continue playing through high school, college and beyond, joined the throngs of fans. 

She said the Valkyries have helped bring attention and resources to not only women’s basketball, but youth basketball, as well. Players, she said, have inspired both girls and boys. 

“I have young men — my nephews are coming down here today — and they’re excited about it,” Carter said. “It’s so hard to get resources for what we do … It’s slowly started to grow.”

Stephanie Ashley and Whit Guerrero weren’t surprised to see big crowds, chalking up the Valkyries wide popularity to the inclusive vibe the team has cultivated. 

“Their message is always about celebrating the culture and community in the Bay. I feel like there is just so much pride in who the Bay is and what the Bay is about,” Ashley said. “And it’s just really beautiful to see this team love on each other so much and love on the Bay so much, and then play so well together and win.”

Guerrero said they are trans and Mexican, and the team is “vocally supportive” of both of those communities and more. They felt embraced by the team during the season, including on special event nights. 

“Just having gone to the games and them having Native American heritage month, I think they had the Mexica dancers, they had the Glide Ensemble, so like very much people of color, communities that are local,” Guerrero said. “It feels like home.”

The party began early for some fans traveling from across the Bay Area to get a glimpse of their favorite team. A kickoff rally in Oakland’s Jack London Square welcomed East Bay revelers before they boarded a ferry to reach the parade.

It was a historic playoff series for many individual players, as well. Valkyries powerhouse forward Gabby Williams — who played club basketball in San Francisco as a kid — scored 30 points in Saturday’s Game 7. With 28 of those points occurring in the second half, Williams broke a WNBA record for the most points in any playoff half. She took home the title of MVP for the 2026 WNBA Finals.

Speaking at the Oakland rally, Williams thanked the team, her agent, family and friends, and Valkyries fans for their support and making her feel at ease during Game 7 at Chase Center. 

“I couldn’t stop smiling, because I was like, ‘Look where I am.’ You guys took the stress off of my shoulders and allowed me to play so free,” Williams said. “I was ass, I was ass for like 30 minutes of that game. I hit one bucket and y’all erupted, and I thought, I’m about to have 40 points! This does not happen without every single person who is here.” 

Despite it being a school day, there were plenty of kids along the parade route, sharing in the excitement of getting to see their newly-crowned champions. 

Zayda Williams, 8, came from Daly City with her mom and aunt, and said her favorite player is Gabby Williams, who she has followed through televised games, but never seen in person before today. 

Zayda said her message to Williams would be to “keep working hard and never give up.”

Marc Staudenbaur from Pacifica attended San Francisco Giants championship parades, and said the togetherness at such events made him pull his two daughters out of school to attend this parade. 

“When it’s a team sport that comes together, it brings out a special type of unity,” he said. “When you’re here to celebrate something that you all rooted for, it’s a special type of parade and I wanted my kids to be able to experience that.” 

Center Kiah Stokes also set an all-time WNBA Finals record with 19 total blocks during the series, while also clinching her fourth career WNBA championship title.

Meanwhile, Tiffany Hayes had a fairytale comeback story. The Valkyries shooting guard played 10 seasons with the Dream, retired in 2023, but returned to play with the Las Vegas Aces in 2024 and signed with the Golden State Valkyries in 2025. This year, Hayes won the WNBA championship against the team where she started and built her basketball career. 

Perhaps no one on the team has had a better year than Coach Natalie Nakase, who also became the first Asian American head coach to win a WNBA championship. 

In only two years, the Valkyries quickly became the most valuable women’s sports team in the world. Much of the revenue the team has raked in has come from sponsorships and a dedicated fanbase of season ticket holders, many of whom were planning to be at Wednesday’s parade also. 

Women’s sports still have a long way to go to reach parity with men’s sports in terms of pay, viewership and overall investment from sports leagues. But players and their fans, who sold out Chase Center over and over again this season, say that the momentum is only getting started. 

“This is just what happens when you invest in women’s sports,” Hayes said immediately following the team’s win on Saturday. “We ain’t going nowhere.”