Posted 3:05 p.m. | Updated 6:06 p.m.
An estimated 1 million fans came out Tuesday to cheer the Denver Broncos, the newly-minted Super Bowl champion team.
Paradegoers packed the route to catch a glimpse of players riding on top of fire engines. Some watched the parade from balconies and rooftops and a few climbed trees.
The mayor's office estimate of 1 million fans is far more than came out the last few times the Broncos won the Super Bowl -- 650,000 in 1998 and 375,000 in 1999.
“The Broncos are everything to this state. They inspire us," said Isiah Valdez of Colorado Springs, who was born the year the team won their first Super Bowl in 1998.
At the Civic Center Park rally afterwards, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock relished the moment, telling the crowd, "How sweet it is! The Lombardi Trophy is back in the Mile High City."
The Super Bowl win meant a lot to a whole lot of people around the state. But for fans like Freddy Covarrubias of Brighton, it meant the world.
