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Never been to the Mummers or Tournament of Roses parades, though I’ve visited both cities. But which one city is better to be in — more fun, interesting, livelier, whatever—on New Year’s Day? And why?
I would say Pasadena and the Tournament Of Roses Parade. Pasadena is such a beautiful town to begin with. And the weather right now is picture perfect.
I'd say that if you can handle the colder weather, the answer depends on what kind of parade experience you want.
The Tournament of Roses Parade is gorgeous. Loads of professionally designed floats bursting with flowers, phalanxes of high school marching bands.
The Mummers Parade is like no other I know of in the United States - it's a 110-plus-year-old homegrown folk tradition. Everything about it is handmade and very much amateur, but the participants put on quite a show and it's a riot of color, especially when the string bands (the most popular part of the all-day parade) perform. And they perform numbers with the polish of professional musical theater.
It's also the only parade I know of where there's an entire section devoted to satirical and humorous commentary on current events. The comic brigades occasionally get into hot water for some of their portrayals (like one the year before last in which one brigade made fun of Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner's sex change with a performance using the song "Dude Looks Like a Lady"), but when they hit the mark, they can be scathingly funny, like the brigade that made fun of the city's erratic property tax assessments with a "The Price is Right" wheel-spin sendup this year.
That last also tells you something: this is a truly local celebration. It's a way to experience Philadelphians at once putting on a show for themselves and letting their hair down. It's not all roses - after this happened to me one New Year's Day about a decade ago, I said to friends, "You haven't lived until you've been called a 'f**king f*gg*t' by a man in a dress" [a drunken wench yelled that as I passed by him] - but the parade has cleaned up its act since those years and made itself more suitable for television.
I'd recommend you put on layers and make your way to South Broad Street on one New Year's Day, even if you spend all the others in sunny Pasadena. You won't have to stand out in the cold for the entire parade - most of the bars on or near the parade route have the TV broadcast of it on, and you can warm yourself with some whiskey, a hot toddy or Irish coffee. And the final part of the parade - the fancy brigades - has gotten so elaborate that the performances take place inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center at 8 p.m. (You have to buy a ticket to get in.)
Last edited by MarketStEl; 01-01-2020 at 06:46 PM..
I just described the parade the OP would see in Philadelphia at some length in an attempt to answer this question:
Quote:
But which one city is better to be in — more fun, interesting, livelier, whatever—on New Year’s Day? And why?
And so far, everyone else says that the reason to be in Pasadena is because it has better weather.
Nothing about any of the attributes the OP queried.
I already know that I go against the grain in welcoming everything about winter save the early sunsets, but it seems to me that endless summer alone doesn't make a place "more fun, interesting, [or] livelier."
(I didn't even touch on the general party atmosphere that surrounds the Mummers Parade.)
What's Pasadena bring to that table, other than proximity to LA?
I just described the parade the OP would see in Philadelphia at some length in an attempt to answer this question:
And so far, everyone else says that the reason to be in Pasadena is because it has better weather.
Nothing about any of the attributes the OP queried.
I already know that I go against the grain in welcoming everything about winter save the early sunsets, but it seems to me that endless summer alone doesn't make a place "more fun, interesting, [or] livelier."
(I didn't even touch on the general party atmosphere that surrounds the Mummers Parade.)
What's Pasadena bring to that table, other than proximity to LA?
Wasn't this about a day and two parades to choose? So proximity to LA is irreverent and now the day will soon be over. Just can't imagine going for just a day. So what's around too should be in general too. But still not what was asked.
But most are using a day or more away from winter as a big key too.m If they basically had to choose. Just wasn't about the city's in general ..... but on the day of the parade and probably others opinions. Just on a CERTIAN day both have parades.
That is what I got from the topic and OP's opening post. Cost wasn't even asked. Still a vague thread. I think many under 30 especially. Probably never herd of the Mummer's parade. I certainly looks more like a parade for a Mardi Gras ......
That is what I got from the topic and OP's opening post. Cost wasn't even asked. Still a vague thread. I think many under 30 especially. Probably never herd of the Mummer's parade. I certainly looks more like a parade for a Mardi Gras ......
My boyfriend's family hails from Trinidad and Tobago. (His Dad is a famous soccer star there.)
He tells me that the Mummers Parade reminds him of Carnival.
And during this evening's broadcast of the fancy brigade shows, the host interviewed two black women in the audience who came every year.
One of them was also Trinidadian and said the same thing.
So that Mardi Gras analogy hits closer to the mark than you knew.
It's also the only parade I know of where there's an entire section devoted to satirical and humorous commentary on current events. The comic brigades occasionally get into hot water for some of their portrayals (like one the year before last in which one brigade made fun of Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner's sex change with a performance using the song "Dude Looks Like a Lady"), but when they hit the mark
I never heard of the Mummers thing. Googled it, and the first article was about blackface. So yes, I can see it can be controversial. That aside, and interesting parade that I knew nothing about.
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