Last-minute preparations underway for 2023 Mummers Parade
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Some parking restrictions went into effect Thursday night for the Mummers Day Parade on Sunday. These restrictions will last until Monday.
More road closures go into effect Friday and this weekend.
Three days before the big day, last minute touches-by way of drilling and much more are taking place all over the Philadelphia Convention Center, where the Fancy Brigades will literally strut their stuff come New Year's Day.
"We move in here the day after Christmas, we set-up all of our production, so you know we move in any props that we have," Christine Horn, the vice president of Avenuers Fancy Brigade, said. "Sometimes we even bring our costumes up."
If you're new to the mummers, it's part tradition and camaraderie and part competition. Each club in each of the five divisions comes up with a theme and a performance which they practice and practice and practice some more – all in preparation to be judged by the judges on New Year's Day.
"This year's theme, it's odd the element of surprise, so it's kind of a play on weird science and science experiments gone wrong," Horn said. "This is a very original theme not only for us, but for the Fancy Brigade Association as well."
CBS3 also ventured outside to see the Avalon String Band practice.
Any mummer will tell you that the time commitment is like having a second job.
"It's a part-time job, could be a full-time job, you can ask our significant others," Bobby Coyle, a chairman with the Avalon String Band, said. "So we'll start in February, we come up with our idea in March. We're doing jobs all year long to generate revenue. It cost $100,000 to put a finished product on the street."
It's a second or part-time job that you love and do for free.
"I just love it," Coyle said. "My first parade was in 1975 and I've always enjoyed it."
As for trying to explain what makes being a mummer and the Mummers Parade itself so special? That's nearly impossible.
"It's something that you really need to experience," Coyle said. "I could sit with you for hours and try to tell you about the history, but you got to come and check it out yourself."
