By Madeleine Wright
February 10, 2025 / 7:22 PM EST / CBS Philadelphia
Excitement is building for the Eagles parade on Friday, which happens to fall on Valentine’s Day. Hotels, bars and restaurants are expecting a boost in business.
Eagles fan Brian Letrinko was planning to fly back home to Kansas City on Monday, but after the Birds’ Super Bowl victory, he’s extending his stay in Philadelphia with hopes of going to the parade, which means he’s spending more money.
“Instead of buying one hat, I bought six hats,” Letrinko said. “Instead of buying one drink, I buy drinks for the whole bar. You’re here. It’s family.”
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Eagles fans flocked to McGillin’s Olde Ale House on Monday to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl victory against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Chris Mullins, co-owner of McGillin’s Olde Ale House, said the parade will bring even more customers to the bar than Valentine’s Day alone.
“I think we can expect well over a million people in downtown Philadelphia and I would expect thousands of people will try to get in here,” Mullins said.
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Restaurants are also seeing an uptick in business. At John’s Place in Spring Garden, owner Tony Kosmatos said he’s expecting to sell up to 1,000 pizzas on Friday.
“I’m assuming it’s going to be very busy,” Kosmatos said. “Last time the parade happened, it was our busiest day in the history of our store. I mean, we ran out of everything.”
That’s why this time Kosmatos is quadrupling his order of bread, eggs and other ingredients to make pizza.
At the Courtyard by Marriott in South Philadelphia, general manager Derek Beckman said more people are making reservations for Thursday night.
“From last night to today, we’ve sold about 50% more rooms overnight, so it’s been a huge increase in business,” Beckman said.
Madeleine Wright is a bilingual general assignment reporter for CBS News Philadelphia who is fluent in Spanish. She joined the team in January 2022 and was named the Delaware County reporter in July 2023.
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