PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A counter protest of sorts is being organized after thousands of Philadelphians said they will protest against officials’ decision to cancel the 2021 Mummers Parade.
The Mummer’s Parade has been a Philadelphia tradition for more than 100 years. But the parade has been canceled due to the pandemic, at least officially — thousands responded to an unofficial event on Facebook called “Mummers/New Year’s Day Peaceful Protest against Mayor Kenney."
So fliers, which had a picture of mummers and a stern message reading, in part, “Avoid the false parade, don’t embarrass our community, don’t embarrass mummerdom," were distributed around the “2 street” neighborhoods in South Philadelphia.
The flier is in response to the thousands of people who responded to the Facebook event despite city officials and two Mummers divisions urging folks to stay home.
“It’s important to remember that the bulk of the Mummers and their organized groups made clear that they weren’t going to march this year because of health concerns. The major divisions of the parade who are organized made that decision early on,” Mayor Jim Kenney said.
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He said officials will try to keep the people who do choose to protest as safe as they can.
The forecast is calling for pouring rain, and whether or not that influences what strutters do remains to be seen.