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Long before the dignitaries arrived Wednesday — the city councillors and party bigwigs in sober blacks and greys — the fans began to gather outside. They staked out spots along the fencing. They stood ready, to sing and cheer and praise his name. And when it started — when the hearse pulled up, and the coffin came out — that’s exactly what they did.

Ford Nation said goodbye to its patron saint Wednesday.

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In a rollicking march through downtown Toronto, Rob Ford’s bespoke empire — one built by endless phone calls and personal visits — gathered itself one last time. As Ford’s casket made its way through the blocked-off streets of the city core, a crew of what looked like hundreds trailed in its wake. They sang songs — When the Saints Go Marching In and Amazing Grace. They chanted slogans, like “Best Mayor Ever!” and “Rob Was For the People!” They waved Ford Nation flags and homemade posters.

It was, after everything and at the end, a remarkable display of Ford’s singular, confounding political gift. Despite his many troubles, his addictions and contradictions and boundless capacity to cause offence, Ford was a retail politician like few that have ever come before. In life, he spoke to thousands alienated from the political process. As in, he literally spoke to them, at their doors and on the phone and in the streets. He signed them up for a political movement that was both inchoate and powerful, one uniquely centred around his personal touch. The great question after Wednesday is whether the Ford family can continue it without him.