A pub owner, a viral crossing guard, and an ASMR comedian will judge Saturday’s Parallel Parking Championship
Nearly 900 people applied for the competition and 15 were chosen to participate, including a SEPTA bus driver and a former contestant on "Survivor."
Things are starting to line up like a perfectly-positioned side-view mirror for the first Philadelphia Parallel Parking Association (PPPA) Championship Saturday, with final details about the event being released this week.
Fifteen drivers, each of whom claims to be the best parallel parker in the city, will go bumper-to-bumper in a series of challenges from 1 to 4 p.m. at Headhouse Plaza in Society Hill to determine who’s telling the truth and who’s full of hot air.
The competition is being held by the PPPA with the South Street Headhouse District serving as co-presenter. Formed this year, the PPPA is a semi-silly group created by self-proclaimed Commissioner Adam Wodka of South Philly that takes the art of parallel parking very seriously. Its executive board is made up of seven of Wodka’s friends.
Despite similarities in their logos, the PPPA is not associated the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA).
Earlier this month, Marisa Magnatta from WMMR’s Preston and Steve Show was announced as the event’s emcee and on Tuesday, the PPPA revealed its three local celebrity judges.
Among them is Fergus Carey, the longtime owner of Fergie’s Pub and several other drinking establishments across the city, who’s generally known in Philly by just one name, Fergie, because around here he only needs one, like Cher.
Someone fairly new to the Philly limelight who came onto our screens and into hearts this spring is also serving as a judge — crossing guard Jamele Ransom. In May, Ransom gave an animated interview to NBC10 about witnessing a carjacked truck crash into a playground and he gave that interview while actively eating a soft-serve vanilla ice cream cone the entire time. The clip quickly went viral, with people hailing Ransom as a Philly “legend” and “hero.”
Rounding out the trio of judges is comedian and social media influencer Betsy Kenney, whose ASMR videos, which are spoken with a strong Philly accent and feature sounds like the soft crushing of wooder ice, have been wildly popular online.
Elevator Machine Room will DJ the event and comedian Rebekah Rickards will serve as “The Ref.”
Just shy of 900 people entered the competition in the month applications were open, according to Wodka, with many submitting videos in which they illustrated their skills or told tales of their parallel parking prowess. Ten contestants were chosen by the PPPA and the remaining five were voted on by the public.
Many of the drivers are going by nicknames like “Pirate One Shot” and “Missy Parks Good.” One competitor, Mary Zheng, was a contestant on Survivor, and another, who’s going by the name “Dark Transit,” is a SEPTA bus driver. Some filmed their video applications on the street or in their car, and at least one guy, “Joe Cocomo” of South Philly, appears to have filmed his lying in bed.
“I’ve been parallel parking since I was 8 years old,” Cocomo said in his application video, which is posted to the PPPA’s Instagram page along with those of the other finalists.
The contenders hail from neighborhoods across Philadelphia, from Uptown to South Philly and from Eastwick to West Mt. Airy, and they range in age from folks in their 20s to people in their 70s (there was a 90-year-old finalist but she recently backed out).
Contestants are required to use their own vehicles and will compete in three categories:
One shot: Get closest to the curb in one attempt.
Tight squeeze: With 18 inches of clearance, park closest to the curb using the least amount of moves.
Under duress: Park as fast as you can while faced with distractions.
The judges will score each contestant on a 10-point scale based on speed, competency, proximity to the curb, and flair. The three drivers with the highest scores will move on to the final round, a “pure show me what you got,” where one will be crowned Best Parallel Parker in Philadelphia 2026, according to Wodka.
Initially, the PPPA was going to allow backup cameras in the competition, but it’s since reversed that decision.
“While going through the contestant applications, so many people took pride in calling out that they don’t need it or use it that we decided for someone to be the Best Parallel Parker in Philadelphia it should be earned through the grit of doing it old-school,” Wodka said via email.
Saturday’s competition will also feature a parallel parking practice for kids, merchandise, and the debut of the PPPA’s mascot, Parallel Pete, who is an orange traffic cone.
The winner of the PPPA Championship will receive Best Parallel Parker in Philadelphia bragging rights for a year, a trophy that will include a piece of a curb, and $76 to cover their next parking ticket.
