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Mummers prepare for strutting in 2023

Mummers pictured in full-throttle prep mode for 2023 parade

The Avalon String Band rehearse outside their warehouse workshop in a trucking company parking lot under the Betsy Ross Bridge in preparation for Sunday’s Mummers Parade. The band’s theme for the 2023 parade is “All Hands On Deck.”
The Avalon String Band rehearse outside their warehouse workshop in a trucking company parking lot under the Betsy Ross Bridge in preparation for Sunday’s Mummers Parade. The band’s theme for the 2023 parade is “All Hands On Deck.”Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Some clubs started planning for New Year’s 2023 right after the 2022 parade. But for most Mummers, the real work doesn’t begin until after the summer, and the heavy lifting usually takes place in the weeks after Thanksgiving.

However, in the week after Christmas, it is full throttle for everyone. The sax, banjo, accordion and glockenspiel players in the 14 string bands are rehearsing with their dancers and marshals in parking lots and church halls and community gyms; the nine wench brigades are sewing costumes and spray-painting shoes; fancies are making sure they can pull their individual floats all the way down Broad Street; the comics are in clubhouses gluing fresh sequins on their umbrellas; and the 11 fancy brigades are in the Convention Center, prepping their props and perfecting their Broadway-style choreography.

CLICK THROUGH FOR MORE STRING BAND PHOTOS:

CLICK THROUGH FOR MORE FANCY BRIGADE PHOTOS:

» READ MORE: Come back here on Sunday for photos of the parade and Fancy Brigade finale.