The best signs at the Eagles parade
”Honestly, everybody hates us, and we love each other so much,” Philadelphian Emily Cook said. She made a replica of the Frankford and Cottman street signs to the Eagles parade.
Some signs carried along the Eagles parade route were scrawled quickly. One took 25 hours to crochet by hand.
They were colorful, irreverent, celebratory, joyful, and even beer-soaked: just like Philadelphia as the Eagles — and the city — bathed in Super Bowl triumph.
Here are some standout signs spotted Friday:
“Contractions can wait. Parade can’t.”
Mary Tosto is due to give birth to her first child Saturday.
Naturally, she stood at Broad and Wharton Streets on Friday, awaiting a glimpse of her beloved Eagles celebrating their Super Bowl win.
“Contractions can wait,” Tosto’s sign said. “Parade can’t.”
(“What else is she gonna do, sit at home and maybe have the baby?” asked Mike Tosto, her husband. The two, who live in Northern Liberties, did have an emergency plan in place — Mary is delivering the baby at Pennsylvania Hospital, so she parked herself on the east side of Broad in case she went into labor, and figured a family member or police officer could get her to the hospital if need be.)
A work of art. Yarn art.
Nick Salvatore started crocheting three years ago as a pandemic hobby.
The night before the Super Bowl, he thought, “why not crochet a sign?”
Twenty five hours later, Salvatore, 39, from West Philly, he had one.
”The Chiefs didn’t score anything so I kept crocheting through the game,” Salvatore said, “And when the Eagles won I ran out with it.”
Salvatore used 360 yards of yarn.
Frankford and Cottman all the way
Last time the Eagles won the Super Bowl, Emily Cook, 25, of Mayfair, started her celebration at Frankford and Cottman Avenues.
This time, she headed to the front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but had to bring a reminder of how far her favorite team has come, she carried a homemade street sign of the intersection, complete with faux grease for the street sign pole.
”This is my second Super Bowl, baby,” Cook said touting the cardboard and plastic sign, with hot glue grease. “So I had to bring it to the parade!”
For Cook, the Super Bowl win brought everyone together in celebration and camaraderie.
”Honestly, everybody hates us, and we love each other so much,” she said.
A massive Eagle, in papier-mâché
Maria Deza and her nephew Dominic Rios, 12, waved an elaborate papier-mâché eagle above the crowd. (It wasn’t technically a sign, but gets points for creativity and message.)
The eagle is a creation of Deza’s cousin, Danny Diaz, an artist who regularly makes costumes and art for his large South Philadelphia family.
“I make all kinds of crazy stuff,” Diaz said, laughing.
Diaz, 49, makes art in between kidney dialysis appointments three times a week, his cousin said, and a year ago faced a dire prognosis with just a few weeks to live.
“It’s a miracle he’s here today,” Deza said. Kind of like the Eagles win, which felt “exciting, thrilling, magical,” to watch, said Dez. “The city needed this.”
Philly is petty, and we are here for it.
Gigi Guaradascione mixed poetry, Valentine’s Day and also Philly pettiness in her perfect sign.
“Roses are red/Chiefs fans feel blue/We’re from Philly/And we’re better than you!”
Such a crowded date
Temple University roommates Aniya Williams-Bey and Talear Morris camped along the parade route at Broad and Walnut with signs declaring their love for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Saquon Barkley.
“Hot girls skip classes to see Jalen Hurts,” Williams-Bey, 18, of Connecticut, had written on her poster board (Technically, she clarified, university classes were canceled today for the celebrations).
“Saquon, [wh]y did you invite so many people to our date?” Morris, 18, of Camden, had etched on hers.
Staff writers Aubrey Whelan, Rodrigo Torrejon, Erin McCarthy contributed to this article.