Shartlesville, Pennsylvania
1/1/2010
In order to break up the eight-hour drive home to Columbus, I had planned for us to stop at Roadside America. Unfortunately, the Mummers Parade went on for longer than expected so we never would have made it to Shartlesville before closing, and the plan had to be abandoned. Oh well. We’ll be back!
34. THE MUMMERS PARADE
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1/1/2010
Eager to get our early bird special we arrived at the parking deck at about a quarter to ten, which left us about two hours before the Fancy Brigade Finale in the Convention Center. We expected to have problems with shut down streets because of the parade, but the city was completely dead. We couldn’t even find the outside parade. I never really thought to check where the parade would be running, because I assumed it was a huge affair and the whole city would be shut down because of it. I may have overestimated the impact this parade has on the city as a whole. Unable to find our Mummers, we wandered through the Chinatown district for awhile until the Convention Center opened up.
There was a bit of a mix up once we got to the Convention Center. The staff let us in about a half hour before the show, but it wasn’t long until we noticed that no one else had been let in. Eventually some manager or something came by, got mad at the staff people, and kicked us out about three minutes before they opened the doors and let everybody else in. So we walked outside and then walked right back in. We felt bad for the door staff. We think they were just trying to be nice because we had a baby.
After all of our adventures, we had finally made it to the parade. Apparently, the Fancy Brigade Finale is considered just that – essentially the climax of the parade, although the parade continues on into the evening outside. There were ten groups parading, each with extremely elaborate costumes and giant set pieces. Daniel was very excited and quite mesmerized for the most part. That was more fun for me to watch than the actual performance itself – which was thoroughly enjoyable.
All three of us really enjoyed the show, but I must express one criticism. Before going on these trips I try to do my research and I did read that in the past blackface had been a big part of the parade. Of course, blackface is now banned, but there are some who still condemn the parade as having a racist heritage. I have no doubt that most of the modern-day Mummers are opposed to racist imagery in the parade as it only helps dig up those old feelings. Nonetheless, one of the groups had a Chinese theme for their performance. The all-white Mummers “yellowed” their faces and wore ridiculous Fu Manchu beards. Is this better than blackface?
The crowd was small, and I got the impression that most of the people in the stands around me were there because they had a personal connection with the performers. It reminded me of my days doing community theatre, where 90% of the audience is friends and family. That’s not a bad thing. Nonetheless, I get the distinct feeling that the Mummers Parade holds little interest to the general public anymore – but is a diehard tradition to a small, dedicated few. Some of the choreography was sloppy. Most of the people were less than athletic. To me, that was the only thing that made it charming, really. It was obvious that these are just regular people who are trying to uphold an old tradition, even if the rest of the world doesn’t care.
1/1/2010
Eager to get our early bird special we arrived at the parking deck at about a quarter to ten, which left us about two hours before the Fancy Brigade Finale in the Convention Center. We expected to have problems with shut down streets because of the parade, but the city was completely dead. We couldn’t even find the outside parade. I never really thought to check where the parade would be running, because I assumed it was a huge affair and the whole city would be shut down because of it. I may have overestimated the impact this parade has on the city as a whole. Unable to find our Mummers, we wandered through the Chinatown district for awhile until the Convention Center opened up.
There was a bit of a mix up once we got to the Convention Center. The staff let us in about a half hour before the show, but it wasn’t long until we noticed that no one else had been let in. Eventually some manager or something came by, got mad at the staff people, and kicked us out about three minutes before they opened the doors and let everybody else in. So we walked outside and then walked right back in. We felt bad for the door staff. We think they were just trying to be nice because we had a baby.
After all of our adventures, we had finally made it to the parade. Apparently, the Fancy Brigade Finale is considered just that – essentially the climax of the parade, although the parade continues on into the evening outside. There were ten groups parading, each with extremely elaborate costumes and giant set pieces. Daniel was very excited and quite mesmerized for the most part. That was more fun for me to watch than the actual performance itself – which was thoroughly enjoyable.
All three of us really enjoyed the show, but I must express one criticism. Before going on these trips I try to do my research and I did read that in the past blackface had been a big part of the parade. Of course, blackface is now banned, but there are some who still condemn the parade as having a racist heritage. I have no doubt that most of the modern-day Mummers are opposed to racist imagery in the parade as it only helps dig up those old feelings. Nonetheless, one of the groups had a Chinese theme for their performance. The all-white Mummers “yellowed” their faces and wore ridiculous Fu Manchu beards. Is this better than blackface?
The crowd was small, and I got the impression that most of the people in the stands around me were there because they had a personal connection with the performers. It reminded me of my days doing community theatre, where 90% of the audience is friends and family. That’s not a bad thing. Nonetheless, I get the distinct feeling that the Mummers Parade holds little interest to the general public anymore – but is a diehard tradition to a small, dedicated few. Some of the choreography was sloppy. Most of the people were less than athletic. To me, that was the only thing that made it charming, really. It was obvious that these are just regular people who are trying to uphold an old tradition, even if the rest of the world doesn’t care.
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