[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17383]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING THE FRALINGER STRING BAND'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 9, 2014

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
Fralinger String Band as it celebrates its 100th anniversary on 
December 18, 2014.
  The Fralinger String Band was founded on December 18, 1914 by a group 
of young men playing music on a street corner in South Philadelphia 
where physician Dr. John Fralinger operated a neighborhood drug store, 
in the heart of Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District. The doctor, 
known for his interest in promoting promising youth, would sponsor the 
band. The J.J. Fralinger String Band would make its debut in the New 
Year's Day Mummers Parade, a Philadelphia tradition, on January 1, 
1915, just two weeks after its founding.
  The band has won an unmatched 16 first-place prizes in the Mummer's 
Parade in the last 50 years, and was the first string band to use the 
saxophone and the first to appear in a major motion picture. The band 
served as a goodwill ambassador for Philadelphia and traveled 
throughout both the United States and the world, in Miss America 
Pageant Parades, and the International Chinese New Year Parade in Hong 
Kong.
  Over its 100-year history, the Fralinger String Band has been led by 
the friends and family members of Dr. Fralinger and operates today as a 
non-profit corporation run entirely by volunteers. The band's clubhouse 
is still located in the heart of South Philadelphia, just feet from the 
original Fralinger Pharmacy.
  I invite you and all of my colleagues to join me in commemorating the 
100th anniversary of the Fralinger String Band. May its commitment to 
performing for and entertaining people of all ages be an inspiration to 
all of us in the years to come.

                          ____________________