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I Risked My Life at the Italian Market Festival
By Kyle Pagan
Published:
Every year at the Italian Market Festival people from all over the area come together to build a ladder of humans for prizes on top of a 30 foot greased pole. This year I joined them:
Philly has a lot of interesting events around the city. This is EASILY one of my favorites! The tradition, the amazing food that lines 9th street, and these animals that climb a 30 foot pole covered in pig fat for the love of the game. They take it very very seriously. It’s not even about the prizes. It’s being able to tell your neighbor I was a part of history. There are legends like Frankie Longo, there are former champs like Nicky, and now the sons of former champs that participate. It’s the most Philly thing ever.
If you need an alternate angle of my attempt (you don’t). Here it is:
@CrossingBroad here you go. #greasedpole pic.twitter.com/eBQrV4oNUu
— J.Simon (@jason_simon11) May 21, 2023
I don’t want to hear it. 12 feet up in the air is terrifying. I’m blaming it on my undiagnosed vertigo.
Kyle writes blog posts and does Man on the Street-style videos all around Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University (a basketball school) in 2015. contact: k.pagan@sportradar.com