PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Phillies successfully climbed their way out of a slump this season. After they won the NLCS and officially advanced to the World Series on Sunday, fans took to the streets to celebrate — and the most daring among them did some climbing of their own.
Yes, in grand Philadelphia fashion, fans climbed lamp posts and street signs to mark the victory — to the displeasure of Philadelphia law enforcement and public safety officials.
The Philadelphia Police Department is in charge of greasing up the poles to discourage climbing. Officials say they had about nine five-gallon pails of grease leftover from the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory in 2018. They slathered the stuff on vertical posts along Broad Street, from Citizens Bank Park to Center City.
Fans still found a way to climb them.
A South Philly woman says there’s a better way. And Michele Gambino should know. She has been involved in the 9th Street Italian Market Festival — which features a greased-pole-climbing contest — for years.
“I'm kind of upset they didn't call me to ask me what they should use,” Gambino said. “I was like: How could you not call me and ask me? I'm the one that's been doing it for a million years. You didn't even get my advice.”
The washable hydraulic oil the police use is very different from the lard used to make climbing the 30-foot pole at 9th and Montrose streets in South Philly more challenging. Sometimes they’ll stick cheese and meat to the pole, too.
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When it comes to big sports wins, she said, now everyone just wants to do it.
“I feel that when people climb poles, it was because they just wanted to get to the top of the pole and take their shirt off and wave it around and say, ‘Look, I can see all of Broad Street when I'm up here!’ And now people are cheering for them to get up.”
But in South Philly, Gambino says, when people climb the pole at 9th and Montrose, it’s not merely celebratory — it’s about tradition and people working together.
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“It's a team approach, right? It's so Philadelphia. It really is,” she said.
Every year — when people climb that pole in South Philly to win prizes like meats, cheeses, sausage and olive oil — Gambino says it takes teamwork, several rows of climbers, and one good climber to reach the top.
“If anybody wants to learn how to do it, they should come to the festival, because we'll show them how it should be done,” she said.