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The Greater Kensington String Band was organized in 1946
and first marched in the famous New Year's Day Mummers
Parade in 1948. January 1, 2006 marked the band's
fifty-ninth consecutive appearance in the spectacular
Philadelphia Parade. Since its inception, the band has achieved a
6.4 average prize. The band, known as "GKSB",
has taken first prize on two occasions, 1979 and 1988,
and has finished in the top ten an impressive
forty one times including seventeen years in the
prestigious top five.
There was a Kensington String Band back in the
1920's, however, Greater Kensington has no connection to
the old group. GKSB started in 1946 on Front Street
below Lehigh Avenue and moved to a location atop the
Cumberland Sho-bar at Kensington Avenue and
"A" Street beneath the Frankford Elevated. In
1960 the band relocated and established its headquarters
at 2444 "D" Street. The "D" Street
Club has a history and legend all its own.
The band is a charter member of the Philadelphia
Mummers String Band Association and as such can never
change its name. So when the band moved in 1966 to
Tacony, it still proudly carried the name of Greater
Kensington String Band. For the past forty years,
the band has owned its own headquarters at 7235 Edmund
Street (Cottman & Edmund). Greater "K" had
found a home in Northeast Philadelphia and very quickly
became involved with community activities. The band has
joined with the Mayfair Optimist Club and the Mayfair-Holmesburg
Merchants Association to sponsor and help organize the
Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade on Frankford Avenue since
1974. Actually the band's involvement in this
neighborhood parade goes back to 1967.
Many talented and dedicated members have passed through
the door of the "club" in the past thirty years.
Likewise, scores of social members and families have
been there to support the band's effort to maintain its position as a quality Mummers organization. In 1975
the band acquired a catering club license making it
available for rentals for all occasions. Most would
agree, it is a great place to hold a party.While New Year's Day is the band's big event of the
year, the group has performed nationally and
internationally with distinction. GKSB has performed in
Tennessee, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, all the New
England States, as well as New Jersey, Maryland,
Delaware and of course throughout Pennsylvania. Some of
the highlights of the band's storied history include
performances at the Ice Carnival in Quebec, the Carnival
de Libertad in Cuba, Oktoberfest in Kitchener-Waterloo,
Ontario, the P. T. Barnum Festival in Connecticut and
the Nebraska State Fair. The band was proud to march in
the Miss America Parade, to perform on stage on the Merv
Griffin Show as well as a command performance at
Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. with Charlie
Daniels and the Rockettes in 1991. In 2004 the
band performed in front of a live crowd of 280,000
people in the Chinese New Year Parade in Hong Kong.
Greater Kensington's varied history has seen the
members play in the Wilmington Opera House, to appear on
the same bill with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and to
play across the Brooklyn Bridge when it was re-dedicated
several years ago. The band's crowning moment came in
1983 when it was selected to represent the East Coast
and was one of only four bands to perform at the
National Sports Festival held at the Air Force Academy
in Colorado Springs. The group was named the
championship band and was personally congratulated by
Bob Hope who was the Olympic Committee Co-Chairman.
Through it all, it has been a labor of love. A piece of
many man and women made it all possible. Dedicated and
talented musicians, the hard working non playing
marshals, leaders with vision, the support and love of
family and friends, this is the GREATER KENSINGTON
STRING BAND! |
