For as long as I can remember, growing up in South Philadelphia meant that New Year’s Day held a special place in my heart due to the Philadelphia Mummers parade. For my family, the legacy of the Mummers parade started way before I was born, when my grandfather and uncles began putting their early years of hard work and dedication into the Mummers parade. As a child, my mother would tell me different stories of the Mummers and explain the things my grandfather did to show his loyalty towards his chosen association, which is the Downtowners Fancy Brigade. Every year, I couldn’t wait until January 1st would roll around and it was finally time for my family and me to line up on Broad St. to watch my uncles and boy cousins participate in the parade, waiting for the day I could join. Soon enough, in 2016, my family’s “club”, The Downtowners New Years Brigade, was finally accepting girl members, and I could not wait to join and live up to my grandfather’s expectations of being a Mummer! I never got the chance to meet my grandfather or see him march in person for the parade or, as we would call it “drill” because he passed before I was born. Yet, I feel a strong sense of connection towards him through his dedication and loyalty to the Mummers tradition that he started and left for my family and I to carry out and continue.
Both of the images below are of my grandfather, John Campbell, parading for the Downtowners New Year’s Brigade.
Fantasy Kind, 1st Prize
In this writing, I will explain how, for many Philadelphia residents, like myself, New Year’s Day holds a lifetime of memories shaped around the Mummers parade, bringing a sense of loyalty, comfort, and community when the traditions from someone close to them, are kept alive and continuously followed. I will mainly dive into the tactics of the Mummers Brigades along with the long-standing dedication and loyalty that develops into being a Mummer and striving to come together as a community to keep the parade alive! I would also like to touch on the importance of loyalty and devotion, which can land certain Mummers in a “Hall of Fame status”, showcasing that the parade is so much more than just a simple parade to true Mummers.
Starting in 1901, the Mummers parade is known to be the country’s oldest folk tradition according to The Quaker City String Band Website (A History of Mumming, n.d.). Every New Year’s Day in Philadelphia, the streets are filled with glitter, feathers, sequins, and floats. Hundreds of thousands are lined up on the sidewalks and tuned in on the TV at home, waiting to experience the loud live-action performance of the String Bands and or the Fancy Brigades showcasing their talents on Broad Street and or inside the Convention Center. The initial groups that hit Broad Street starting at 9 am are The Wenches and The Comics. The Fancy Brigades are in the Pennsylvania Convention Center waiting to perform their 11 am preshow to the public, which is unjudged and untelevised. The parade kicks off on 17th and Market with over 40 different organizations and associations marching their way around City Hall throughout the day to make three performance stops along Broad St until they reach Broad and Washington.
The 40 organizations and associations that make up the Mummers divisions are split up into five divisions, which are the Wenches, the Comics, the String Bands, the Fancy, and the Fancy Brigades. All of which showcase different talents and tactics. The Comics and The Wenches are known for showing off sarcastic performances emphasizing their skit or theme, by running crazy down Broad Street In their “golden slippers”. The String Bands aim to create beautiful songs and sounds while crafting an amazing musical performance based on their chosen theme. Last but not least, in my opinion, the most exciting division is the Fancy Brigades, which perform as if Broadway meets Mardi Gras. Filled with bright, beautiful costumes and big, elaborate, floats they are bound to blow the crowd away.
Fun fact: This was my first year parading for the Downtowners and I was in the front left for the opening scene of our “drill”.
With all of their specialized preparations and excitement to ensure the 4-minute and 30-second performance based on their unique theme is quite like something you have never seen before! After all the divisions march down Broad Street and end their parading at Broad and Washington, The Fancy Brigades make their way back toward City Hall to perform in the Pennsylvania Convention Center for their 5 pm live-action televised show. A crowd of a few thousand people cheer on their favorite Brigade to take home First Place, which is all in the hands of a panel of judges. The 5 pm show has all the final tactics and preparation that the Brigades have been putting in months and months of unnoticed hard work and dedication to provide the crowd with a one of one spectacular. In hopes to also sweep the judges off their feet and be voted as the First Place Prize Winner.
“Eleven Clubs. One Family.” That is the first set of words when opening the website for the Fancy Brigade Association (Fancy Brigade Website, n.d.). In 1960, the first Fancy Brigade Association was formed. According to the Fancy Brigade Association website “The Fancy Brigades were first formed in the early 1940s. At that time, they were referred to as “Groups.” In 1947, they became known as Brigades. The Brigades paraded as a part of the Fancy Division and were soon referred to as Fancy Brigades. All Fancy Brigades belonged to a Fancy Club as part of the Fancy Division. The Brigades referred to the Fancy Club they belonged to as the “Mother Club”. Each Mother Club had approximately five Brigades” (Fancy Brigade Website, n.d.). Once the official Fancy Brigade Association was established in 1960, my grandfather, at the age of 25 in 1965 entered the Fancy Brigade tradition. Before that, he was a part of the Comics, starting at the age of 5 years old marching in his first parade in 1945. While entering the Fancy Brigade Association, my grandfather, along with my two uncles, chose to join the Downtowners Fancy Brigade, which is one of the eleven clubs that has been running as a Fancy Brigade since 1959 from their “Mother Club”.
For Mummers, New Year’s Day is much more than just one day out of the year when people dress up in fancy costumes and dance to loud music, though that’s the visual concept of it. There are so many unseen months of hard work, dedication, and loyalty that are put into perfecting these one-of-one concepts showcased on New Year’s Day. For all Mummers, New Year’s Day preparation is year-round, Once January 1st passes and the stress of wanting everything to go perfectly dies down and the results are in for who has won that year. Preparation for the following year’s performance already rolls around in February when the clubs bring their members back together and start discussing their top-secret theme that is set to come to life. Each club comes together and welcomes at least 3 to 4 of their club members to present a thoroughly thought-out theme with costume preparation, float design, and dance techniques all in mind to secure the 1st place win. Crazy right? All this thinking and planning when you just finished! Well, that’s not all; once the theme is selected by all voting members, it is then submitted to the Fancy Brigade Association to see if it will be approved for New Year’s Day. A common issue that can happen in this circumstance is that two or more clubs submit ideas for similar themes for the same year. Of course, themes are repeated by different clubs year after year, but there is never a time when two clubs will be presenting the same theme in the Fancy Brigade Division. After themes are selected and locked into place for the upcoming year, preparation begins rolling out for the clubs.
Countless club members, such as art teachers, carpenters, dancers, and tailors, all use their personal life skills to congregate in their clubs and create one-of-a-kind props, floats, audio beats for music, and sequin designs onto “suits.” Working month after month, club members then begin to dedicate time to learning the “drill” to their theme. Every Sunday morning starting in September, all club members meet, usually in South Philadelphia near Second Street, which is often referred to as “Mummers Row.” Groups meet under the I95 bridge no matter the weather to practice and perfect their 4-minute 30-second choreography for the judges on January 1st. As the New Year quickly approaches after choreography begins, the brigades have around 3-4 months until they are back in the Convention Center. The week before New Year’s Day in the Mummers community is known as “Hell Week” because tensions are as high as possible as members spend hours on end perfecting their drills day in and day out at the Convention Center. By timing everything out and making sure everything is completely on time with their performance, they must ensure everything is perfect with all moving members, moving floats, and moving props. This show is perfected in the Convention Center the week leading up to prevent any simple mistakes that could push the drill a second later than it is supposed to be, which is 4 minutes and 30 seconds. If the brigades are not off the floor within the time limit, it is an automatic disqualification, which would mean all of their unseen months and hours of devotion were all for nothing.
Screenshots from CBS News “Preparations Underway in Philadelphia for Mummers Parade on New Year’s Day“
Finally, to wrap up this writing, I am going to explain the significance of excellence in the Mummers tradition and what is given to older club members as they have demonstrated unwavering loyalty for years and years beyond average expectations. For the past 52 years, the Fancy Brigade association has inducted around 60 members into their Hall of Fame, and I am proudly related to two of those Hall of Fame inductees; My Grandfather John Campbell of 92′, and my Uncle Rodrick Galvin, aka Bob of 85′. In 1981, my uncle, Bob, was chosen as the Downtowners Fancy Brigade Captain, where he served as Captain until 1986, helping them take home two 1st place wins in six years. After Uncle Bob was declared captain and placed 1st in his first year of captaining, he was inducted by voting members of the Downtowners Fancy Brigade to be a part of the Downtowners Hall of Fame, which he was inducted into in 1981. Soon after, in 1984, my grandfather, John Campbell, was also nominated to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for the Downtowners but decided to give up his spot. The reason my grandfather gave up his spot is because he wanted to give it to his brother, Joe Campbell, who was also a longtime member of the Downtowners. Uncle Joe had battled his first heart attack at the age of 41 in 1983, and my grandfather wanted to lift his spirits by giving his Hall of Fame nomination to his sick brother. Two years after Uncle Joe was inducted into the Downtowners Hall of Fame, he passed away in 1986 at the age of 43 years old. The entire Downtowners Association strutted in and showed their condolences at his funeral, as my mom says they would do at any funeral for someone in the Mummers community. Just three years after my grandfather gave his nomination to Uncle Joe, another nomination came his way, and in 1987, my grandfather was inducted into the Downtowners Hall of Fame.
I always felt that the kind gesture my grandfather chose to give his brother established a personal pledge of allegiance towards his brother and their profound love for being a Mummer. It was a very remarkable decision made by my grandfather, which showed the rest of the family just how important and special the Downtowners Fancy Brigade was to those two men, as they were both able to pass away knowing they fully represented the meaning of being A Hall of Fame Mummer. This also brings me a sense of comfort every year when the parade rolls around, knowing that when I participate in any aspect of the parade, I am in some way living out my grandfather’s beloved tradition. The day often reminds me of his countless hours of dedication and loyalty towards the parade and understanding why he spent so much of his life providing to the Mummers community. By creating a one-of-a-kind experience year after year and coming together as a community, the Mummers create unforgettable memories in many aspects of life. From their first win to their last, unforgettable memories, loyalty, devotion, and community shape the parade and easily tie together to explain why the Mummer’s tradition is so important to certain people.
Ultimately, I hope that I have touched on and provided enough information as to why the Mummer’s parade is so much more than just a simple parade to those who resonate with the word “Mummer.” Through tons of unnoticed devotion and dedication for the past 123 years, the Mummers of Philadelphia have come together and created a sense of tradition embedded through the parade for many Philadelphia families. My strong emphasis on the notion of loyalty, comfort, and community is often a repetitious feeling I hold on New Year’s Day, and I hope you have felt where my sense of loyalty and comfort comes from, through what I have explained in my writing. I hope that after reading this, you are intrigued by the profound dedication that I have described to emphasize how important continuing this dedication towards the parade is to many. The entire Philadelphia experience of New Year’s Day is truly indescribable, so I hope you one day want to experience it after this reading.
My second year parading with the Downtowners NYB in 2018, Theme: Master – Pieces (Photos from Downtowners Website).
Work Cited
“2024 Mummers Parade: What to Expect on New Year’s Day.” Visit Philadelphia, 15 Dec. 2023, www.visitphilly.com/things-to-do/events/the-mummers-parade/.
Unparalleled Developers. About the mummers. Mummers Museum. (2024, January 21). https://www.mummersmuseum.org/about/
Unparalleled Developers. (2023b, September 11). Fancy Brigade Association – Our history. Fancy Brigade Association. https://www.fancybrigadeassociation.com/our-history/
Downtowners fancy brigade. DOWNTOWNERS FANCY BRIGADE. (n.d.). http://downtowners.squarespace.com/
A history of mumming: How the mummers got here. Quaker City String Band. (2016, May 26). https://quakercitystringband.com/a-history-of-mumming-how-the-mummers-got-here/#:~:text=The%20Philadelphia%20Mummers%20Parade%20is,traced%20back%20to%20ancient%20Greece.