Drag Queens Join Philadelphia’s Legendary Mummers Day Parade

The Mummers Day Parade, held every New Year’s Day in Philadelphia, is know for its flamboyant costumes and boisterous participants. And this coming January 1, a troupe of drag queens will be leading the String Bands down Washington Avenue, where they’ll join up with the legendary Fancy Brigades.

Marching
in the inaugural sashay is Brittany Lynn (right) and her Drag Mafia, including Crystal Electra, Alexis Cartier, Misses P., Porcelain, Bridgette Jones, Stella D’Oro, Mary D’ Knight, Navaya Shay and Cherry Pop.

“We are all honored and thrilled to be asked to march down Broad Street with the Mummers in such a great Philly tradition,” says Lynn.  “Then to be the ‘hype men’ for the amazing Fancy Brigades… is just beyond words,”

The 102-year-old parade culminates at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where each queen will perform a ten-minute routine.

Below, check out Behind the Sequins, a which follows parade planners as they make  costumes, design sets and choreograph routines.


Behind the Sequins: Showtime for the Philadelphia Mummers is a new, six-part video series showing the lead up to the “Mummers Day” parade. (New Year’s Day = Mummers Day in Philadelphia.) The 90-second segments, produced by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, tell the Mummers’ story through the people who make the costumes, choreograph the routines, build the sets and march—and have for generations. Videos will be posted on www.visitphilly.com/newyears (click on “Mummers”). A new video will debut each Friday for five consecutive weeks, viewable at the same website.

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