New York is preparing for a party that's nearly a year and a half in the making.

At 11 a.m. Wednesday, the essential workers who helped us all get through the COVID-19 pandemic will make their way through New York City's famed Canyon of Heroes during a parade in their honor.

"I didn't know what I was bringing home or what I was going to expose my family to. It was kind of scary. But I also had to go in," said Michael Watson, a mechanic at Mount Sinai South Nassau.

By going in every day, he helped save countless lives.

Watson will be among the essential workers honored at the ticker tape parade.

The procession will be led by another Long Islander -- Northwell Health nurse Sandra Lindsay, of Port Washington -- the first American who received the COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial.

But Jerry Laricchiuta with the CSEA labor union says most of the honorees are from New York City -- and he's calling that a mistake.

"We want our first responders, our heroes, the people who put their lives on the line to feel just as important as those in the city. And they are just as important," he said.

Watson says he's proud of what nurses have accomplished during the pandemic.