The Shipman Mansion

You may wear many hats in your life, but have you ever worn a Mummer’s hat? Your chance comes on Tuesday, March 31, when the Shipman Mansion Foundation in Edgewater Park hosts The Secret Life of Mummers: Tradition; Family and Commitment. Alan Visitacion has been a Mummer for 35 years and is in the Mummer’s Hall of Fame with the Woodland String Band, with which he has played the alto saxophone for the last quarter century. Visitacion, from Edgewater Park, will bring Mummer costumes and head gear – which he has offered to make available for photos, should you choose to wear one. In a program that promises to visit all that New Year’s Day jargon, Visitacion will explain “2-Street,” demonstrate the Mummer’s Strut and identify the many Mummer “divisions” while focusing on the history of string bands. It turns out that there are some important rules for those parading through Philadelphia, which he will explore. And the parade has had many routes, which he’ll trace in a program that promises something new for everyone, including music. Oh, dem golden slippers! The Secret Life of Mummers begins at 7 p.m. at the Shipman Mansion, 221 Edgewater Avenue, Edgewater Park. With this event, The Shipman Mansion Foundation begins its third year of free programs for the public. The next program, Preparing for a Solo Offshore Passage, will be April 28 and will introduce sailors, armchair and actual, to the many steps that one should undertake to prepare sailboat and self for a singlehanded blue-water voyage. Speaker Doug Campbell has completed two singlehanded voyages to Bermuda as well as numerous coastal passages. The Shipman Mansion Foundation was formed to introduce the community to local history and the cultural roots of the area while raising funds to preserve the Shipman Mansion, which is on the state and federal Registers of Historic Places. Admission is always free and deserts are provided. Tax-deductible donations to the Shipman Mansion Foundation are encouraged and will be accepted during the program.