Fundraising efforts underway for parades

Preserving some Philadelphia traditions… that’s the goal of a new fundraising effort being proposed.

Preserving some Philadelphia traditions… that’s the goal of a new fundraising effort being proposed.

Listen:
[audio: 091224tmrizzo.mp3]

Congressman Bob Brady is using the working title of Philadelphia Traditions Fund for the pool of money that would be collected to help keep traditonal events alive in the city. The money would be solicited from businesses to preserve events such as the Mummers Parade, which has been struggling to cover costs because of the city budget problems. Councilman Frank Rizzo is a big supporter of the parades that make up the city’s heritage.

Rizzo: I was getting concerned that’d be were starting to lose a very important part of our fabric here, part of our city. I just look forward to the Polaski Day Parade, the Puerto Rican Day parade, we all know what happened to the Columbus Day Parade, and who knows if we had this we might have had a Columbus Day Parade.

How the money will be collected or handed out is still in the works, but Congressman Brady has been a big fund-raiser, and kept the Mummers strutting last year by getting some last-minute financing.