A newspaper advertisement for the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Excursion to Philadelphia for the New Year’s Day Mummers Parade, Tuesday January 1, 1924. The excursion’s round-trip rate of $3.25 applied to any passenger departing and returning to all Reading Railroad stations between Lykens, Dauphin County, and Tremont, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania – including Williamstown, Tower City, Reiner, Keffers, Good Spring, and Donaldson.
New Year’s Day Mummers Parade
It is the largest and most elaborate pageant of the North and East. Scores of Clubs in grotesque regalia and novel and beautiful costumes, as well as many floats, displaying timely and interesting designs, for a wonderfully gay and imposing procession.
For those taking the excursion, the train left Lykens at 3:15 a. m. and Tremont at 4:17 a. m. The connecting train left Schuylkill Haven at 5:20 a. m. and arrived at the final destination, Reading Terminal in Philadelphia at 8:10 a.m. The return trip began at 7:00 p. m. from Reading Terminal. Presumably, it took about five hours for the return to Lykens.
Tickets were only good on the special train.
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For those who traveled to Philadelphia to see the parade, they were met with “chill winds.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 2, 1924, reported that the Mummers staged a “colorful spectacle on Broad Street in spite of gale.”
A colorized photograph from 1924 showing one of the elaborate costumes worn at the parade.
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From Newspapers.com.
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