Photos: Women’s March on Philadelphia packs the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

On a typical day, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway is packed with cars zooming past the many flags lining the road, on their way to and from the city. But on Saturday, January 21, it was packed with 50,000 people—women, men, kids—who were marching to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in solidarity with 2.9 million marchers all around the world.

That attendance number for the Women’s March on Philadelphia is well over the 20,000 organizers were expecting to attend. Those who marched described the day as peaceful: Groups sang songs like “This Land is Your Land” or led chants while holding protest signs that read “Girls just want to have fun-damental rights” and other colorful phrases.

The Parkway has been no stranger to hosting events and demonstrations in its 100-year existence. One of the largest marches it hosted was the original women’s march, the Million Woman March in 1997 that drew one of the largest crowds in U.S. history.

Photo by Melissa Romero

Photo by Melissa Romero

• The original women’s march took place in Philly 20 years ago [Curbed Philly]