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Veteran South Jersey Mummer seeks to bring new interest in parade

Choosing from the array of Mummers finery on display, Betsy Carpenter dons a fancifully feathered headdress and smiles for a friend's camera.

Alan Visitacion, of Edgewater Park, NJ, a longtime Mummer (left, back) check out John Kraus of Edgewater Park as he tries on an old western themed costume.
Alan Visitacion, of Edgewater Park, NJ, a longtime Mummer (left, back) check out John Kraus of Edgewater Park as he tries on an old western themed costume.Read moreAvi Steinhardt/ For the Philadelphia Inquirer

Choosing from the array of Mummers finery on display, Betsy Carpenter dons a fancifully feathered headdress and smiles for a friend's camera.

John Kraus grins from ear to ear as he tries on a Vegas version of a cowboy vest "that feels like it was made for me."

And nothing less than the entire "Magic of the Lamp" costume - an extravaganza of fuchsia feathers and royal blue - will do for Richard Pattanite.

"This is really a treat," the Delran resident says, doing an impromptu yet skillful strut across the floor of the Burlington County church hall where 30 people are gathered to experience "The Secret Life of Mummers."

Saturday's presentation was created by veteran Mummer Alan Visitacion, who grew up in Deptford, lives in Edgewater Park, and hopes to make Mummery more accessible to the masses.

"We want to take people behind what they see on TV," he says, explaining why he brought the sights, sounds, and sequins of Philadelphia's traditional New Year's parade to the sedate St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in downtown Beverly.

The Woodland String Band saxophone player created the 90-minute multimedia presentation with his wife, Michelle. The event, hosted by the Riverfront Historical Society, aimed to encourage interest and participation in a quintessentially Philadelphia folk institution that is seeking to attract new audiences.

This year, a new "Philadelphia" club division promises to add a much-needed dash of diversity to the civic-minded, competitive, and historically insular network of string band, fancy brigade, and other (comic, wench, fancy) performing clubs.

"It's great what's happening," says Visitacion, whose presentation cited the expected participation of San Mateo Carnavalero, a Mexican American dance troupe, under the new division's banner.

The 2015 parade marked the debut of a reversed - Center City to South Philly - marching route that some say has helped streamline and focus the parade's live and televised entertainment value.

This year's parade will follow the same route, says Tom Loomis, who lives in Gloucester Township and serves as president of the Philadelphia Mummers String Band Association.

He's also Woodland's president, and praises Visitacion's presentation as "a way to educate people - and the more we educate, the more support we can generate."

"We want more diversity," he adds. "Because the more people we open up Mummery to, the more people will line the streets."

A marketing professional and father of two, Visitacion, 54, is surely as congenial, knowledgeable, and entertaining an ambassador from Two Street (Mummery's South Philly epicenter) as one could hope to find.

"Joy on people's faces. That's the reward of being a Mummer," he tells me, adding that the presentation "is a way for me to share the experience of seeing people light up when they see me" in costume.

"People can share the excitement I get to feel," he adds.

Visitacion was just 16 when he strutted up Broad Street for the first time, in 1978, with the Saturnalians Fancy Brigade. Later, he marched with the Broomall String Band, and since 1992, he's been with Woodland, which won first place for the first time in the 2012 parade.

Sidelined for part of this year by two spinal surgeries, Visitacion used the down time to put together the presentation.

"The secret is, there are no secrets," he tells the Beverly audience, describing the magic of Mummery as "open to anyone."

New ventures such as online radio podcasts and "Mum TV," a sub-channel of Philadelphia's WPHL-TV that offers year-round parade footage, may well expand the reach of Mummery's exuberant culture.

But giving ordinary people an opportunity to look or perhaps feel like a Mummer is no small thing, either.

"It's awesome," Pattanite, 60, says, finishing his strut. "I just wish I had some musical talent. My family always told me never to since or dance."

Carpenter, 75, of Mount Laurel, gingerly maneuvers herself out from under the headdress.

"It's marvelous," she says. "My grandchildren will not believe it."

kriordan@phillynews.com

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