 The first march, in 1970, was front page news in "The New York Times" reporting the march extended for about fifteen city blocks.The march had thousands of participants with organizers “who said variously 3,000 and 5,000 and even 20,000.” The variance could be due, in part, that although the march started with over a dozen homosexual and feminist contingents, parade spectators were encouraged to join the procession.Currently Heritage of Pride requires preregistration of marchers, and sets up barricades along the entire route discouraging the practice.