PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The city’s annual Mummers Parade quieted critics who raised concerns about racially or culturally insensitive displays in previous years, with marchers putting on a family friendly New Year’s Day show that still entertained spectators crowded along the milelong route.
Philadelphia has hosted the Mummers Parade since 1901, making it the oldest continuous folk parade in the country, with string bands, comic brigades, elaborate floats and plenty of feathers and sequins. More than 10,000 marchers – divided into more than 40 clubs – work year-round creating elaborate costumes and props and practicing skits and music.
But the festivities had been marred in recent years. Last year, one skit mocked transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner, another featured participants who painted their faces brown or dressed as tacos to portray Mexicans and a marcher was seen on video shouting expletives about gays.
In response, Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations coordinated a sensitivity training program – held in bars and community centers throughout the city – for Mummers that included talks about the differences between appropriate and offensive satire. Participation was voluntary.
The controversies had detracted from efforts to diversify. Two Latino groups, an African-American drill team and an LGBT drag-queen troupe were welcomed into the lineup in 2016 and walked again this year.