Tips for a memorable Mummer’s Day

Philadelphia visitor’s blog Uwishunu has published a primer for the uninitiated with helpful details about the 113-year-old Mummer’s Day Parade.

On Jan. 1, from 8:50 a.m. to 6 p.m., a nonstop phalanx of mummer’s brigades — the comics, the wench brigades, the fancies, the string bands and the fancy brigades — will march up Broad Street from Oregon Avenue to City Hall.

New this year — Peter Crimmins will report tomorrow on a fancy brigade comprising 10 of Philadelphia’s most glamorous drag queens.

Beware, however: Men wearing dresses and make-up on Mummer’s Day is de rigueur, so bonus point to you if you can pick out the drag performers!

Their big tips

1. Start

The five divisions start on South Broad Street at different locations. The comics and wenches kick off at Washington Avenue. The fancies start at Snyder. And the string bands and fancy brigades start way down at Oregon Avenue.

The fancy brigades start last, though, with time enough to get only as far as Washington before the have to board buses to be whisked away to the Convention Center for a ticketed performance later in the day.

2. Location 

The parade makes stops at Shunk, Pine and Sansom streets and Washington Avenue. The intersection of braod and Washington is the one place where you can see all five divisions perform.

3. Don’t drive

Public transport is best. But if you must drive, park in a garage.

4. Dress for success

Bring weather-appropriate clothes.

5. A respite

The Kimmel Center has many indoor family-friendly activities, and — depending on the weather — you might catch some of the parade form a more hospitable location.

6. Take Jan. 2 off

After the parade, a deluge of festive, festooned, and inebriated mummers (and their fans) flows down 2nd Street (“Two Street,” in local parlance) for after-hours revelry.

Ain’t no party like a South Philly party.

For more tips and information, hit Uwishunu.