Philadelphia continued its championship celebration on Thursday as thousands upon thousands of Eagles fans swarmed to Penn’s Landing for the start of a new season. Before the reigning Super Bowl Champions hosted the Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field, the pregame festivities took place at the NFL Kickoff Experience, highlighted by photo opportunities with the Vince Lombardi Trophy, autograph signings with legendary players, a concert from Shawn Mendez and tons of promotional products.

NFL Shop set up kiosks full of merchandise, featuring jerseys, T-shirts, jackets, helmets, footballs, hats and more. Bridgestone handed out logoed towels to people who caught a pass while jumping into a foam tire pit. In a twist on the “test your strength” games at carnivals, Direct TV invited attendees to spike a football on an elevated platform. After every smash, a computer on a giant screen would randomly select a prize, such as branded koozies, towels, phone chargers or drinkware.

Delaware native Carlos Martinez, sporting a green and black T-shirt with an image of the Eagles Super Bowl ring dead center, was recently laid off from work. You wouldn’t know it from the smile on his face, though, as he had all day to bake in the sun and enjoy the activities. “I’m trying to get back-to-back rings,” Martinez said. “I bought this shirt at the parade – the greatest day of my life – and I want a second shirt this year.”

Former Eagles players and hall of famers on hand included Super Bowl LII Champion Brent Celek, Jeremiah Trotter, Brian Westbrook, Randall Cunningham, David Akers, Harold Carmichael and Jason Avant.

If you had sweat in your eye, you might have mistaken Gary Schneider for Eagles center Jason Kelce. After all, Schneider was decked out in the same elaborate, sparkly Mummers costume that Kelce famously wore during the championship parade in February. Schneider represents Philly Parade Costume, an online store that sells Kelce’s full ensemble from that historic day. In conjunction with the original designer, the e-commerce outlet purchased the license and the rights to reproduce the design. Schneider said that production began in mid-March, and that costumes are currently shipping.

“The goal is to have all the tailgates filled with them and the bleachers in the stadium packed with them all the way from now until the end of the season,” Schneider said.

Despite the temperature rising north of 90 degrees, the Campbell Soup Company was giving out samples to everyone who registered for the Fan Mobile Pass. That registration granted you access to plenty of family-friendly games, including throwing a football through tires, an intimidating obstacle course, cornhole and ladder ball. There were also plenty of photo ops to simulate the career of an NFL player, from posing with your team’s jersey in front of the podium at the draft, to putting on shoulder pads and a helmet in the locker room.

North Philly artist Jamar Wheeler (@inkd_by_art on Instagram) attracted photos as well, as he carried his new painting around the event. He made local headlines at the end of last season with his beautiful illustration of Nick Foles wearing angels’ wings as he helped up an injured Carson Wentz. This time, he painted Kelce in his memorable costume passing the bedazzled football to Wentz, while the other players wear pink in honor of breast cancer awareness. “It’s Kelce telling Wentz we have to hold this ball – we can’t let anybody take our championship,” Wheeler said. “We ride together, we fly together.”