Tips For Watching 10,000 Men And Women Twirl, Sashay & Strut Up Broad Street

Philadelphia Mummers

PHILADELPHIA, /PRNewswire/ — New Year’s Day is about cel­e­brat­ing, and there’s no bet­ter place to fete than at the Philadelphia’s Mummers Parade, a 110-year-old tra­di­tion in which 10,000 peo­ple dressed in lav­ish cos­tumes twirl, sashay, pirou­ette and strut up Broad Street.

Who? Mummers are men and women of all ages who belong to more than 40 social clubs that make up the orga­ni­za­tion. The clubs, split into five divi­sions — Comics, Wench Brigades, Fancies, String Bands and Fancy Brigades — func­tion mainly to stage their play­ful per­for­mances on New Year’s Day.

What? The day’s high­light is the parade itself, which begins in South Philadelphia in the morn­ing and winds its way up Broad Street to City Hall about six hours later. After they’ve dis­played their floats, cos­tumes, dances and music, the Comics, Fancies and String Bands head down to 2(nd) Street to spend the rest of the day and night cel­e­brat­ing. But there’s more work ahead for mem­bers of the Fancy Brigades, who put on two elab­o­rate Broadway-style per­for­mances for ticket hold­ers at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Where? One of the best places to view the spec­ta­cle is from the judg­ing stands out­side City Hall, but tick­ets must be reserved in advance. (See below.) For side­walk seat­ing, arrive early and set up near a drill loca­tion, where String Bands per­form. These spots are usu­ally at the inter­sec­tions of Broad Street and the fol­low­ing streets: Sansom, Washington, Wolf/Ritner and Shunk. Fancy Brigades start at Oregon Avenue in the mid-afternoon but only get as far as Washington Avenue. (Tip: Because each divi­sion starts at a dif­fer­ent inter­sec­tion, the only non-ticketed place to watch all of them is at Broad Street and Washington Avenue.)

When? The parade begins at 11:00 a.m. and ends some­time before 6:00 p.m. Fancy Brigades hold two tick­eted com­pe­ti­tions at the Pennsylvania Convention Center — the first at 12:00 noon and the sec­ond at 5:00 p.m.

Why? Mummery traces its roots to ancient Roman labor­ers who ush­ered in the fes­ti­val of Saturnalia by march­ing in masks while exchang­ing gifts and sat­i­riz­ing the issues of the day. In the 1600s, Swedish set­tlers to Philadelphia’s out­skirts hon­ored Christmas by beseech­ing their neigh­bors for dessert and liquor by dress­ing up, chant­ing and shoot­ing firearms. The party even­tu­ally migrated to New Year’s Day and evolved into a series of neigh­bor­hood parades. In 1901, the tra­di­tion began in earnest with the first rec­og­nized and judged Mummers Parade.

How? Tickets for bleacher seat­ing at City Hall (15(th) & Market Streets) are avail­able at the Independence Visitor Center (6(th) & Market Streets, (215) 965‑7676) for $19.00. Tickets to both Fancy Brigade Finales can be pur­chased online for $12-$17 at comcasttix.com.

For more infor­ma­tion about travel to Philadelphia, visit gophila.com or uwishunu.com, where you can build itin­er­aries; search event cal­en­dars; see pho­tos and videos; view inter­ac­tive maps; sign up for newslet­ters; lis­ten to Hear Philly, an online radio sta­tion about what to see and do in the region; book hotel reser­va­tions and more. Or, call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Historic Philadelphia, at (800) 537‑7676.

Photo by valkrye131

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