The Best Thing That Happened This Week
Attendance at the Mummers Parade has tanked in recent years, thanks to changing entertainment habits, dizzying switches in route, and a history of blackface, bawdiness and exclusivity that made the event politically incorrect, and not in a good way. A “Wench Lives Matter” sign last New Year’s Day catalyzed a meeting between Mummers leaders and the city’s Commission on Human Relations. And this year’s parade, the two groups announced this week, will see a new Philadelphia Division featuring Mexican dancers, Chinese lion dancers, drag queens and more. “There was a consensus, in order to survive and thrive through the 21st century and beyond, it has to evolve,” George Badey, Mummers spokesman and string-band saxophonist, told the Inquirer. Let’s all drink together to another 115 years.
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