UMF student plays Mummer for a day

SKOWHEGAN – For Jeff Kirby, Jan. 1 is the best day of the year. That’s because he gets to don an outrageous costume and play toe-tapping tunes on the saxophone while marching in a 10-hour parade.

The University of Maine at Farmington student was a Mummer, one of thousands of people who dress up in strange costumes made of feathers, sequins, satin, fake fur and faux jewels and strut their stuff through downtown Philadelphia.

The Mummers Parade is folk art – a flamboyant celebration of the new year that is uniquely Philadelphian.

Comic clubs feature clowns, wenches and other characters who satirize contemporary life. Fancy clubs compete in categories including costume and “King Clown.” Fancy brigades strut in precision, string bands blast tunes, and floats complete the scene.

Kirby, 19, was right in the middle of it all. Last year, he was a saxophone-toting Roman legionnaire. This year, he was an astronaut. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s just a lot of fun. You meet a lot of good people. The feeling you get on New Year’s Day is unexplainable,” he said.

Being a mummer is in Kirby’s blood. He was born on New Year’s Eve. His grandfather Mel Slack designed costumes for the string bands and played banjo in one himself. Some of Kirby’s earliest memories were of accompanying his granddad to rehearsals and events.

But being a mummer isn’t all New Year’s Day fun, Kirby said. It requires dedication and perseverance, fortitude, and a lot of time. Kirby had to go through a trying initiation to get into the Uptown String Band.

“You make a lot of good friends in this,” he said. “It’s kind of one of those things where, once you get into it, it’s hard to get out of it. It’s too much fun. You don’t want to leave it.”