Ruffled Feathers

There’s really no middle ground on the Mummers.

Either you love them and consider them one of our icons, one of those quintessential things that identify us as Philadelphians. Or you believe they are something that have outlived their time, that they have eroded into little more than a day of drunken revelry.

Consider me in the first group, but I hear all the time from those who consider the Mummers something akin to an embarrassment.

What happened Tuesday night won’t help.

Acting on a tip, police raided the clubhouse of the Downtowners Fancy Brigade. 2 Street might never be the same.

Police arrested 10 women and charged them with solicitation. Authorities say the women were performing sex acts in plain view.

Talk about your ruffled feathers.

Two executive officers of the club also were busted and charged with state liquor law violations.

Here’s what it boils down to: Police say that every Tuesday the home of the Downtowners Fancy Brigade was being turned into a brothel.

A man was renting the hall from the club. Police say he brought in the hookers, who performed sex acts for a fee for partygoers who had already forked over a $30 cover charge.

Mummers officials were quick to point out that this was not a Mummers event, nor even a Downtowners Fancy Brigade event.

That’s not going to matter much.

The stain is there. And it’s going to take a long time for it to wear off.

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