There’s so much more to this young old city than just the Liberty Bell and a Philly Cheese Steak. Philadelphia is a multi-layered city with great restaurants, singular American history and a high quality of life.
If you’ve never been here, you’ll be surprised. If you haven’t been here in ten years, ditto. There is so much creative energy in Philly on all fronts – food, arts, design, science – it’s impossible to take it all in in just one visit. One way to do it is to come during one of the many festivals that Philadelphia throws like a great A-list party every year. As an example:
Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts
March 28 to April 27
Synapses surely fired overtime inside the smartest, most idiosyncratic brains in Philly to come up with ideas for this monthlong festival. The 2013 festival theme is “Time Machine” – and events are built around important or obscure moments throughout history.
At the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, guests will sashay through a giant tube, which will be “powered by your heartbeat,” generating a light and sound show like no other. A free multimedia extravaganza will run daily at 7pm and 10pm, featuring puppets, lights, music, and a wooly mammoth. It’s part art exhibit, part video game and part musical theater, according to festival staff.
There are plenty of ways to access hundreds of offerings; eat, attend lectures, enjoy performances. One, inspired by the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in March 30, 1981, follows three of Reagan’s top advisors dealing with the aftermath of the shooting. Written and directed by young graduates of Wesleyan College Theater Department, Mark McCloughan and James Maseda, (who moved to Philadelphia because “it was a great alternative to New York, we’re not living in closets and, we can eat.”), “From The Swamp to the Stars; A Reagan-Era Fever Dream” will run various times throughout the month.
Aaron Cromie and Gwen Rooker have put together a “play with music, shadows and puppets,” about the “sad and true tale” of Mighty Mary (Sept. 11, 1916), a circus elephant who killed a violent handler and was subsequently executed by a town out for blood. “We’ll begin with clowns and face painting, though it will get darker from there,” they said.
Thomas Jefferson will be in attendance at A Taste of History, starring City Tavern chef, Walter Staib. “Jefferson wrote that the City Tavern (opened in 1773) was ‘the most genteel tavern’ in the United States,” according to Staib. Many events are free. Be sure to RSVP for the most popular in advance.
Read more: HuffPost
