About Last Night: Phillies Clinch World Series Berth and Broad Street Goes Nuts
Poles were climbed, fireworks went off, Elmo came out, dance-offs erupted. It was pure joy.
Fans celebrate the Phillies making the World Series for the first time in 13 years on Broad Street / Photography by Laura Swartz
The idea of a “town square” is somewhat quaint and old-timey, but one thing I love about living in Philly is that whenever something happens — something we feel big feelings about, feelings that we need to share with other people who also have those big feelings, good or bad — there’s this unspoken agreement that our meeting place is City Hall.
Look at photos of our celebrations, our protests, and everything in between — you’ll inevitably see Billy Penn’s statue overseeing the proceedings. So last night, when Bryce Harper launched his two-run home run to make the pennant win feel inevitable, I got my shoes on, Broad Street on my mind.
I wasn’t alone.
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As I walked the couple blocks from my apartment to Broad and Market, impromptu song-and-dance parties broke out, with banging pots and pans as a backup track.
Police were out, but hadn’t blocked off Broad Street yet, so cars turning onto South Broad from City Hall were met with a barrage of fans cheering on the margins of Penn Square and in the median. Most cars honked back. World Series fever had begun.
Eventually, the street filled up and got blocked off, and the real party began. Yes, poles were climbed. I saw a guy drink beer out of a shoe. Fireworks went off, Elmo came out, dance-offs erupted. It was pure joy.
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This “Dancing on My Own” singalong was particularly endearing:
Also, these fans who don’t know who the Philadelphia Union are when questioned by Fox 29 were amazing, and I would be remiss to not share that with you:
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So that’s what Philly came up with after last night’s NLCS win … We’ll have to wait until the World Series next week to see if we have more cause for celebration.
Phillies fans shut down Broad Street in celebration
