Parade is a Go-Go!

The 2012 SugarHouse Casino Mummers Parade is clear to step off Sunday morning, New Year’s Day. There will be a final check of the weather and other conditions at 4 a.m. Sunday morning, but all indicators are green. The Comics, as usual, will begin the parade from Broad and Washington and head to the new [...]

“Tony Terrific”

You can call him Tony Terrific, though I know he’ll wince at that. 52-year-old Anthony DiLacqua is a great Mummer and Philadelphian. He’s been a Mummer for 23 years, 21 of them playing saxophone with Greater Kensington String Band. Tony is now Director of Security at SugarHouse Casino in Fishtown. Before that, he served in [...]

Jozef & the Amazing Technicolor Mumcoat

The 2012 SugarHouse Mummers Parade nears and pretty much folks know what their doing. Most of the work is finished. There are exceptions and you know who you are. One of the geniuses of the parade is a family. The Jozefowski family, of Golden Sunrise NYA. Mom, Ellie, Dad, Henrik, daughter, Alexandra, and brother, Jozef. [...]

Firefighter Ed, the Shooting Star

Tonight on PHl17 a report airs at 10pm on 42-year-old Ed Verbitski. I talked with Ed at the station house on Grays Ferry Avenue where Squad 47 is based and also under I-95 where Ed was rehearsing with the Fancy Brigade, Bill McIntyre’s Shooting Stars. Ed is a Mummer and Philadelphia’s Firefighter of the Year. [...]

It’s the most Mummerful time of the Year

The biggest reason I love the Mummers are the people who Mum and one teenager is a perfect example of why.  13-year-old Julia Parmisciano is a smart, upbeat, talented person.  She’s a fan of the Mummers.  Julia is also a heart transplant recipient.  She suffered cardiac arrest last spring while at Epiphany of Our Lord [...]

Here Come the Cromptons

Jerry Crompton is a fine sax player and he was a great music director for Avalon String Band. Tough. He was tough. Jerry is one of the most recent inductees into the String Band Hall of Fame.  Son, Jim, has carried on well in his place as Music Director since 2007, while dad still marches. [...]

2012 Order of Enjoyment

As the 2012 Sugar House Mummers Parade prepares to step off on New Year’s Day, the clubs also do so with the order of their appearances on their minds.  It’s a psychological game for some who believe that going too early ensures a lower score from the judges and that going in the last half, [...]

It’s Official. Everybody wear a girdle.

The Mummers Parade route is changed and it will, at least mentally, require that the participants get a little thinner at the end of the route.  The annual mid-December meeting between the City of Philadelphia and each of the Mummers Clubs took place Wednesday night at the Mummers Museum.  Deputy Recreation Commissioner Leo Dignam and his team [...]