Mummers Parade

YO, LIBERALS! GET USED TO IT Liberals, get used to the reality that you lost the election. Why? Because the Democratic Party that once was for all working men is now for those who don't work. Of the Democrats' 42 years of control, the last 30 were by liberals who have created a generation of dependency on government, social programs that encourage people not to work, programs that encourage 12-year-olds to have babies knowing the government will keep them. The taxpayers are fed up with programs that don't work, like welfare and the school loan program (25 percent never paid back, so the taxpayers have to pick up the bill)

The city and the Mummers Association will resume talks today on the impact of Mayor Nutter's budget cuts on the traditional New Year's Day parade, after meeting last evening for about 90 minutes. "We're making progress but we ran out of time," said Doug Oliver, Nutter's press secretary. But Mummers Association spokesman George Badey said his organization was disappointed with the city's response. He said that the city was asking the Mummers Association to help pay for costs associated with the parade, but that so far officials have failed to provide a detailed breakdown of what those costs are. "We don't want to be charged for things that aren't related to the parade," Badey said.

Philadelphia's raucous Mummers Parade appears set to make its annual trek up Broad Street come New Year's Day, but the party will likely run short. Doug Oliver, press secretary for Mayor Nutter, made that prediction yesterday after he met with Mummers leaders to negotiate the impact of the city's budget cuts on the parade. The parade should follow its normal route but probably will be cut back by about 90 minutes, he said yesterday. The bacchanal usually lasts for eight hours, officially.

More than a century after its birth, Philadelphia's annual Mummers Parade is adapting to a new era. And unlike the old days, when fans watched the parade for hours in frigid New Year's weather, Mummers leaders and city officials said tomorrow's parade is expected to be sunny and speedy - tailor-made for the age of global warming and short attention spans. Of course, they would have a hard time taking credit for weather forecasts that predict bright skies and temperatures in the upper 40s. But according to Philadelphia Managing Director Philip Goldsmith, his office has worked with the Mummers to make this parade significantly shorter than the dragging, gap-filled events that he said had turned off fans in recent years.

It wasn't quite two minutes to midnight, but it was pretty close. With just over three weeks left before New Year's Day, a television station has finally agreed to show the Mummers Parade. Under an agreement that was awaiting signatures last night, WPHL-TV (Channel 17) will televise the annual parade live from Broad Street. Long a staple of local television each Jan. 1, the parade had been in danger of being knocked off the air this year. "Once I get some signatures, we'll be all set," WPHL general manager Vincent R. Giannini said.

When cops have to move among a crowd of parade watchers and firmly, but with grave courtesy, take beer cans and beer bottles out of the hands of young men and young women, something is haywire. That is what Philadelphia's finest were doing Wednesday as the Mummers strutted up South Broad Street, but don't get me wrong. I'm not criticizing the cops who had to do that, or the brass that ordered them to do so. I just think cops shouldn't have to play nursemaid to a lot of young people.

What are you doing New Year's Day? If you're a Philadelphian, it's likely you'll be doing one of two things: going to the Mummers Parade or watching at least some of it on TV. Most of us prefer to stay home to view. KYW-TV (Channel 3) estimates that more than a million people in nearly 362,000 households did just that last year. (By comparison, 100,000 spectators shivered on windy Broad Street as 20,000 Mummers blew by.) Having guests over during the parade is as much of a tradition as the spectacle itself.

It could be a one-year detour, or the shape of things to come. Either way, it's a controversial break in tradition. Come New Year's Day, the Mummers won't be marching up South Broad Street. Instead, they'll be parading on Market Street, from Second Street to City Hall. That's the word from Mayor Rendell, who sent letters last week to groups representing the 20,000 to 25,000 Mummers who join in the annual event. The official reason: South Broad Street, soon to become the "Avenue of the Arts," will be in the midst of a $15 million rebuilding project, due to start this September.

For the last 20 years, cold wind and all, Matt Glovacz was always ready to strut up Broad or Market in stunning Mummers finery. The gaudier the costumes, the better the show. But with the Sept. 11 attacks and war on terrorism, Glovacz, captain of the Golden Sunrise Club, said this year's opening act had to be strictly red, white and blue. "This country has to stay united," said Glovacz, 37, of Port Richmond. And so does the parade. From the doling out of Old Glory along the Market Street parade route to dedications to firefighters and the military, patriotism will be strongly represented throughout Philadelphia's 101st New Year's Day revelry.

I commend the Mummers on another year of spectacular costumes, routines and performances (Inquirer, Jan. 2). Their effort and dedication is a credit to the city and the region. That being said, attending the parade is still a terrible experience. The main problem is the horrible gaps, sometimes with four or five blocks between brigades, bands or clubs. At one point, I counted a 20-minute gap between string bands. Besides the City Hall area, the parade was at its best around Fifth and Sixth Streets and 12th and 13th, where there were constant performances.

  For the Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day Parade, 2013 was the best of times and, for some, sleepy, confusing times. The weather for Sunday's parade was about as good as it gets. But spectators lost an hour of sleep overnight to the start of daylight saving time. Others were baffled as to why the parade was held a full week before St. Patrick's Day. The parade - which dates to 1771 - is typically held on the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day. But when the holiday falls on a Sunday, organizers can choose whether to have it on March 17 or March 10. Not caught off guard were Derek Fizur and Carly Gibson of Deptford.

Sylvia M. Karet, a high school librarian regarded as "outspoken and ahead of her time" by family and friends, died Sunday, Jan. 20, six months shy of her 100th birthday, at Wyndmoor Hills Health Care & Rehab Center. The cause of death was congestive heart failure after a fall last year in which she fractured a femur, her family said. The former Sylvia Mandel had social standing as her family's matriarch. But she was best known for taking a professional job long before women routinely did so, her family said.

This is my summation on the State of the Mummers Parade 2013: "More fans on the sidewalks. Friendlier cops. Fewer drunks. Less hostility. More kids under the age of 5 marching with dad. More moms in street clothes pushing baby carriages side by side up Broad Street in the middle of the comic brigades. And I saw my first black wench. "Until next year. " I love viewing the Mummers Parade through the eyes of first-time spectators. That look of confused awe, delight, and wonder is priceless.

IN A STUNNING reversal of form, the Froggy Carr Wench Brigade is apologetic. The perennial naughty boys (and girls) of Mummery are sometimes blamed for delaying the Mummers Parade, and they are often guilty. Their usual response is a shrug, or maybe an upraised finger. (Guess which finger.) It's different this year. Last week, city Parade Director Leo Dignam told me that this year's fast parade might have been 20 minutes shorter had Froggy Carr not spent as much time in front of the TV cameras as it takes for a picnic.

Some Mummers offensive I attended the Mummers Parade, as I do every year, looking for something new from the very talented String Bands Division. Hegeman's "Just Imagine," a tribute to the Beatles and London (they finished sixth), was a beautiful presentation, and by Mummers standards, pretty modern. By contrast, Ferko's "Bring Back Those Minstrel Days" theme (they finished fifth) was downright creepy. The backs of some of their costumes had black-faced caricatures in white clown makeup.

FRALINGER String Band's "Back from the Dead" theme this year had more than one meaning: The band survived near-disaster when a fire tore through its workshop space last month. And after a two-year drought outside the top three, Fralinger is back on top after snagging first prize - the band's first top honor since its eight consecutive first prizes from 2003 to 2010. Fralinger captain Thomas D'Amore, 24, was awarded top honors as captain for the second year running. As for the rest of the results, no surprises or upsets to speak of. The oft-high-scoring Quaker City String Band came in second place, with last year's winner, Woodland, taking third.

IT TOOK HER 69 years, but Donna Poissant finally made it to a Mummers Parade. "I have been hearing about this parade since I was born," said Poissant, whose grandfather trekked annually from Yonkers, N.Y., to see it. Watching at Broad and Chestnut streets Tuesday morning as the comics strutted past, the Williamsburg, Va., woman couldn't stop her feet from dancing - or her mind from imagining herself in sequins and feathers in the 2014 Mummers...

You'd think it was Santa Claus and his elves standing at Broad Street and Washington Avenue and not Misses P., a.k.a. Nathan Walk, and other members of the Drag Brigade. Everyone wanted a photo with the 10 ladies - a mother who eagerly foisted her toddler into Misses P.'s arms; two police officers; and multiple Mummers with painted faces. "I'm really having a great time," beamed Stella D'oro, Tim Johnson's alter ego, who was dressed as a Pan Am stewardess. In the world of Mummery, this was history.

By Jonathan Zimmerman Men dressed as women - at the Mummers Parade! Can you believe it? In November, parade organizers announced that 10 self-described "drag queens" would accompany the String Bands along Broad Street from Washington Avenue to City Hall today. They're also expected to perform at the Convention Center between the acts of the Fancy Brigades. Philadelphians greeted the news with a collective yawn, because cross-dressing has long been a staple of Mummery. Starting in the 1920s, feminine-attired "wenches" paraded down Broad Street paired with tuxedo-clad "dudes.