Just in case you didn't know, there was a parade that made Wednesday, October 22, 1980 unlike most middle-of-the-week days.  Mr. Edmonds covers yet another angle of the festivities- how the local banking and investment companies dealth with the parade, and the masses that flowed into Center City to take part in the celebration.

“Due to the victory of the Phillies,” said the hand-lettered sign posted at the close of business Tuesday on the door of Bell Savings & Loan Association, 2 Penn Center, “this office will be closed.”

The optimists at Bell were right.  And a good many banks, big and small, closed branches along the Phillies parade route yesterday, at least during the mid-day hours when crowds were at a peak.

“It’s a matter of security,” explained Raymond R. Strecker, president of East Girard Savings Association, which closed two Center City branches and one other during the parade.  “We figured the police would be committed pretty completely to crowd control at that time.”

But except for the occasional branch closings and some long lunch hours, Philadelphia’s financial community conducted business pretty much as usual.

“We’ve got a lot of people here who would like us to close down so they can go out and watch the parade,” said Henry P. Glendinning Jr., president of Butcher & Singer, one of the city’s largest brokerage houses.  “Unfortunately, we can’t (legally) while the markets are open.”

His clients were under no such constraints, though.  Glendinning said that trading in bonds was considerably slow than it usually is on a Wednesday morning.

Among the banks, First Pennsylvania temporarily closed five branches, Philadelphia Saving Fund Society, two, and Girard Bank, none.  None of the banks reported significant absenteeism or slowdowns in central operations, though retail business was way off.

“In the short range it’s a little disruptive,” said Norman D. Denny, chairman of Lincoln Bank, whose branch at 18th and Market (the start of the parade route) was closed for two hours.  “But in the long range it’s a magnificent thing for this city and business here.”

The city’s large insurance companies reported little disruption.  “Nothing was said,” noted Kathie Martin Beans, a spokeswoman for Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Co.  “But people who wanted to go out during lunch and watch the parade could; you could tell by the length of the line in the cafeteria afterward that a lot did.”