Cleanup begins on the Parkway after NFL Draft

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The 2017 NFL Draft wrapped up Saturday, and now crews are busy cleaning up a sizable mess on the Parkway.

Staff and vendors are not wasting any time breaking down and packing up.

Teresa Rodriguez of South Philadelphia said, "Just cleaning up the food, scraps of paper and the mess people left around."

All good things must come to an end including the last three days of chalk talk, football fans and draft parties on the Parkway.

Sean Parker of Oink and Moo Barbecue said, "The amount of people that came here for the past three days is incredible. We fed a lot of hungry people today and Thursday and Friday as well."

Action News asked one of the fans, what's been your favorite fan experience here. "The beer, the statues and just looking at how excited everybody is," they said.

One family drove nine hours from Cincinnati. We asked if it was worth it. "Most definitely, this is our second straight year doing it," said Brandon Washington."

An estimated 200,000 people flocked to Philadelphia for the three days of festivities.

Mayor Jim Kenney said "Every hotel was filled, every restaurant had people overflowing with people on the street. The economic benefit is one thing, but if you're watching this on TV, you think about sending your kids to school here, maybe visiting here as a tourist, bringing a convention here,, you can't calculate the value of all that exposure."

Which comes at a price, for drivers and some locals.

As production crews break down, and vendors pack up - several of the closed roads won't re-open until Monday.

Markus Kapfhammer said, "It's been a little bit of hassle when it comes to traffic, but just having the Philly experience of everyone running around going nuts, that's kind of nice."

We asked Brandon and Lauren Washington would they come back if they had it again here in Philadelphia. "Most definitely. We would make that committed drive," said Brandon. "We'll do it again next year," said Lauren.

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