Mummers Parade
The Mummers Parade is held each New Year's Day in Philadelphia. Started in 1901, it is the longest-running continuous folk parade in the United States.
| Mummers Parade | |
|---|---|
A string band in the 2010 Mummers Parade | |
| Genre | Parade |
| Date(s) | New Year's Day |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Country | U.S. |
| Years active | 124 |
| Inaugurated | January 1, 1901 (first official parade) |
| Most recent | January 1, 2024 |
Local clubs, usually called "New Years Associations" or "New Years Brigades", compete in one of five categories: Comics, Wench Brigades, Fancies, String Bands, and Fancy Brigades. They prepare elaborate costumes, performance routines, and movable scenery, which take months to complete. This is done in clubhouses – many of which are on or near 2nd Street (called "Two Street" by some local residents) in the Pennsport neighborhood of the city's South Philadelphia section – which also serve as social gathering places for members.
Multiple Philadelphia television stations have aired the parade through its history; beginning in 2023, the latest of these is Wilmington, Delaware-licensed WDPN-TV, known as MeTV 2, which also provides live stream coverage through the website of its sister station WFMZ-TV in nearby Allentown, Pennsylvania. On at least several occasions, the parade has been nationally televised. In 1994 and again in 1995, it was televised by the Travel Channel. In 2009 and 2010, parts of the parade were televised nationally on WGN America and WGN-TV.