The bands' themes

Editor's note: Number in parenthesis is the band's standing in last year's parade.

1. Greater Overbrook String Band (13)

Captain: James Driadon

Theme: Memories of the Way We Were

Celebrating Captain Jim Driadon's 60th anniversary as a mummer and Overbrook member, the band is presenting a traditional theme reminiscent of the parades in the '50s, '60s and '70s. String band favorites with instrumentation using mandolins, guitars, violins and glockenspiel will replicate that old-time sound.

2. Original Trilby String Band (16)

Captain: Joseph R. Kaminski

Theme: Trilby's Rilby's La Vida Loca

Carnivale is a Brazilian tradition that captures the beauty of nature and the celebration of life. Using elaborate and colorful costumes and scenery as a path to eternal happiness, Carnivale expresses those feelings through song and dance. Music will have a Latin flair. Trilby is the oldest string band marching, having appeared in the first "official" Mummers Parade in 1901.

3. Peter A. Broomall String Band (14)

Captain: Peter J. Broomall Sr.

Theme: Broomall's Barnyard Bash

Broomall gives you a peek into a not-so-typical day down on the farm. This colorful, lighthearted presentation of farmers and farm animals brings this musical alive with banjo-picking, toe-tapping song and dance.

4. Irish American String Band (17)

Captain: Kelly Mahon

Theme: Wastin' Away in Mummerietaville

It's a Caribbean-style beach party. Join ultimate party girl Captain Kelly Mahon, the only female string-band captain, as she frolics from the beach to the tiki bar, to some favorite Jimmy Buffet-inspired tunes. Watch for the sharks that just want to have fun.

5. Aqua String Band (15)

Captain: Ron Iannacone

Theme: It's About Time!

Aqua invites us to experience time like we experience color and music. Aqua's "right on time" and "all wound up" to take you on a whimsical and fantastic celebration of the passage of time through sight and sound, including the continuous construction of a clock tower during their presentation.

6. Uptown String Band (10)

Captain: Ryan Radcliffe

Theme: La Fiesta Mexicana

Experience exciting and unique Old Mexico. Stroll through a Mexican desert city and enjoy all the flavors of this land through the traditional colors, foods, music and dance. In Uptown's exciting world south of the border, even tacos come to life. Mexican tunes with a mariachi guitar finale.

7. Duffy String Band (12)

Captain: Ted Kudrick

Theme: Animal Crackers

The animals take over the circus ... but just the animals that come in two life-size animal-cracker boxes. Captain Kudrick portrays the Ringmaster Lion. Keep an eye out for the vendor side show. These mischievous animal musicians play circus favorites.

8. Durning String Band (11)

Captain: Joe Pomante

Theme: Good Clean Fun

Noted for their creative, comedic themes, Durning celebrates everything having to do with the bathroom. From the shower to the sauna, journey musically through the world of the washroom. First-year captain Joe Pomante is the Ti-D-Bowl man surrounded by a band of bathrobe-clad bathers, dancing plumbers and many other strange characters.

9. Woodland String Band (8)

Captain: Tom Robison

Theme: PhilharMAGIC

Woodland takes you to a land of wizardry, mysticism, sorcery, witchcraft and enchantment, led by the Grand Wizard, AL A. KAZAM (Tom Robison). Harry Potter serves as the guide as Mummers fans watch and listen to familiar, fantastic sights and sounds played by musical wizards, witches, sorcerers and druids.

10. Polish American String Band (6)

Captain: Mark Danielewicz

Theme: The Jokers Ball

Broad Street pops with an explosion of colors as Polish American invites you to the Jokers Ball. Complete with juggling jesters, energetic and syncopated band movements and up-tempo, feel-good tunes, Polish American will light up your eyes with music and laughter. Further enhancing the gorgeous costumes, all bandsmen are wearing traditional plumed back-pieces. At the Jokers Ball, black tie is optional, but smiles are mandatory.

11. Hegeman String Band (9)

Captain: John P. Baron

Theme: Clowning Around Town

As the sun rises over Hegeman's town of clowns, the magic of Main Street comes to life as the workday hustle and bustle takes center stage. The Honorable Mayor HAL A. MUSING (John Baron) presides over these "clowns about town." This crazy community features comical chaos with a variety of blue- and white-collar working clowns mixing music and fun.

12. Greater Kensington String Band (7)

Captain: Jim Tatar Jr.

Theme: Empire of the Czar

Welcome to Russia! Join Greater Kensington's celebration of traditional Russian culture, complete with the iconic domes of St. Basil's Cathedral. Led by Captain Czar James (Jim Tatar, Jr.), listen for traditional folk songs and other Russian favorites as the band brings the sounds and sights of Russian folklore to Broad Street. Costumes portray various styles of the imperial period.

13. South Philadelphia String Band (3)

Captain: Denny Palandro

Theme: Gathering of Nations

Embark on a majestic journey of Native America, where great warriors rule. Experience a celebratory powwow, glide along a mystical canoe down the Shenandoah, witness the majesty of the sacred white-buffalo skull, feel the force of a thundering herd stampeding through the village and be dazzled by the arrival of the mighty and wrathful Thunderbird.

14. Avalon String Band (5)

Captain: Jack Hee

Theme: Prairie Tales

Saddle up as Avalon's comical cowboys take you through their daily life on the prairie. From the antics of the dizzy cattle to surprises leaping to life from their covered wagons, Avalon's bowlegged cowpokes show you that life on the prairie was not always the rough-and-tumble world normally portrayed.

15. Quaker City String Band (2)

Captain: Charlie Roetz

Theme: Mums of La Mancha

The men of the Quaker City String Band invite you to travel back to the golden age of Spain. Los conquistadors, mosqueteros and señoritas entertain with traditional dances and Spanish rhythms. Quaker City has finished second the last seven years and first or second the last 11 years. In 2009 the band was voted the People's Choice Award winner through Channel 17's online voting. Charlie Roetz was last year's top captain.

16. Fralinger String Band (1)

Captain: Thomas D'Amore

Theme: Fralinger's Feudin', Fussin' and a Fightin'

Fralinger's Hillbillies are free, untrammeled citizens of mountain pastures. Working at the local sawmill, they await the ramshackle moonshine train that delivers their liquid energy. The feudin' and fightin' musical clans are the stubborn Hatfields and the poised McCoys. Fralinger is going for an unprecedented eight straight first-prize finishes.

17. Joseph A. Ferko String Band (4)

Captain: Anthony Celenza

Theme: Hobo Junction

Remember when life was simpler, carefree and innocent? When living for today was more important than tomorrow? This is the early 20th-century hobo lifestyle - a happy band of wanderers who rode the rails, experiencing one day at a time. Last stop: the train yard, where musical have-nots have everything in camaraderie. Ferko calls this place Hobo Junction.