The Best Thing That Happened This Week

The Mummers moved into the 21st century.

Attendance at the Mummers Parade has tanked in recent years, thanks to changing entertainment habits, dizzying switches in route, and a history of blackface, bawdiness and exclusivity that made the event politically incorrect, and not in a good way. A “Wench Lives Matter” sign last New Year’s Day catalyzed a meeting between Mummers leaders and the city’s Commission on Human Relations. And this year’s parade, the two groups announced this week, will see a new Philadelphia Division featuring Mexican dancers, Chinese lion dancers, drag queens and more. “There was a consensus, in order to survive and thrive through the 21st century and beyond, it has to evolve,” George Badey, Mummers spokesman and string-band saxophonist, told the Inquirer. Let’s all drink together to another 115 years.

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