Since 1901, New Year’s Day in Philadelphia has been marked by the Mummers Parade, which has its roots in the Roman Festival of Saturnalias (circa 400 BC), a day of satire and gift giving. Social groups don ornate costumes, create elaborate props, and compete in one of the four divisions: Fancies (floats, dancing, and music), Fancy Brigades (larger, more elaborate Fancies), Comics (clowns), and String Bands. In preparation for this year’s celebration, the Philadelphia Mummers Parade Marketing Group (PMPMG) invited bids on the production of original artistic banners, with artwork designed by Gina Caimi, for their Banners on Broad Street campaign, won by Quaker Chroma Imaging.

“We acquired the job by going the extra mile and delivering a completed [Philadelphia] Center City District banner to the client so they could see and feel exactly what they were going to get, prior to placing the order.”

For the banners, Quaker Chroma Imaging chose Poly Poplin media from Fisher Textiles because it holds up well against outdoor elements and handles bright colors well, says Craig Tinkelman, Quaker Chroma’s CEO. The shop used its 10-foot EFI Vutek FabriVu with Vutek dye-sub inks, in conjunction with its Klieverik heat press (calendar) to output the image onto 40 4 x 9-foot double-sided banners-approximately 2500 square feet in all. “There is no comparison to the look and feel of dye sub compared to direct print to fabric,” adds Tinkleman. “Our saturation, ‘pop,’ and brightness of colors is second to none. Whether it is indoors or outdoors, dye sub is the way to go!” Total printing time was three days.

Quaker Chroma did all the finishing for the job, which included sewing banners back to back with a liner, creating pockets on the tops and bottoms with Velcro inside, and inserting two D-rings on one side of each banner. Finishing took two days.

The banners were installed by the city of Philadelphia and decorated the City Center District from December 8 through New Year’s Day 2009.

Client: Station Avenue Productions, Merchantville, New Jersey (on behalf of the Philadelphia Mummers)

The Players: Quaker Chroma Imaging, Moorestown, New Jersey (quakerchroma.com)

Tools & Supplies: EFI Vutek FabriVu, Vutek dye-sub inks, Fisher Textiles’ 6248 Poly Poplin, Klieverik calender