Swenson was one of many schools marching down Frankford Avenue at the 2011 Mayfair-Holmesburg Thanksgiving Parade. Photo by Liza Meiris.

There was no need for a rain date. Service men and women, cheerleaders, dance teams, business owners, community members, pets and babies paraded down Frankford Avenue Sunday for the annual Mayfair-Holmesburg Thanksgiving Parade.

Click below to see our full slideshow of photos. If you took your own photos, email them to info AT neastphilly.com and we’ll add them to our photo gallery. continue reading »

Families watch as the Mayfair-Homesburg Thanksgiving Parade rolls down Frankford Avenue in 2010. Photo by Brian Bailey.

Sunday marks the annual Mayfair-Holmesburg Thanksgiving Parade, and unless it rains, Grand Marshall Ed Kelly will lead the “Bringing Music to Mayfair” parade down Frankford Avenue.

The Mayfair Civic Association has a guide to everything you need to know for parade day, including tips for businesses that want to get involved.

Festivities begin at noon on Frankford Avenue at Rhawn Street, and will end at 3 p.m. at Knorr Street. In between, performers will stop at Ryan Avenue and one other location farther South to entertain the crowd. continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

Change is relative. That seemed to be the message from long-time locals living and working near Frankford Avenue in Mayfair.

The heart of Mayfair, Frankford Avenue has certainly gained a few nail salons and lost a few retail outlets over the years, but not all locals believe these changes to be monumental — or even for the worse.

“People have all these memories of Mayfair as a golden age. It hasn’t really changed that much,” said Mike “Scoats” Scotese, president of the Mayfair Business Association and owner of Frankford Avenue’s Grey Lodge (as well as Fox Chase’s Hop Angel Brauhaus).

Joe Veneziale disagreed. “There’s no retail on the street anymore,” said the owner of Giggles Gifts. “Thirty, 35, 40 years ago, there was nothing but retail stores on the avenue. You could get anything you wanted.”
continue reading »

Happy Thanksgiving to our wonderful NEast Philly readers!

No matter what you’re doing today and where you’re doing it, we wish you a happy and safe holiday. To get you in the spirit, here are more photos from Sunday’s Mayfair-Holmesburg Thanksgiving Parade. continue reading »

Photo by Irv Mick

Yesterday marked the 34th annual Mayfair-Holmesburg Thanksgiving Parade. After a two-year stint as the Parade of Talent held inside the John Perzel Community Center due to budget constraints, the parade returned to Frankford Avenue this year. Our slideshow is below.

continue reading »

Santa, one of many honored guests at last Sunday's Parade of Talent, cuddles 3-month-old Feona Conti, who got a little help from grandmom Katie.

The parade was held indoors. Wait, you say, indoors? Yes, the 34th Annual Mayfair-Holmesburg Parade, this year billed as the “Parade of Talent,” took place indoors, at the John Perzel Community Center on Sunday from noon until 4 p.m.

Rain or shine, folks were told, the parade would take place. Indoors? You’d hope so.

So what happened? Why hold a parade indoors? In earlier years when it rained, the parade was postponed. But, Sunday it wasn’t raining. It was a bright sunny day, all day. It would have been a wonderful day to be outdoors, watching a parade.

As an old friend used to quip, “It ain’t like it usta was.” There were no floats nor marching bands. The Lu Lu Shrine Temple motorcycle troop did not perform. The military reserve vehicles and classic cars were no where to be seen. continue reading »