CITY GUIDE:PHILADELPHIA
CENTER CITY
Wawa Welcome
America!
THROUGH JULY 4
The nation’s birthday
celebration erupts
with concerts, a
parade, fireworks and
a massive party on the
Ben Franklin Parkway.
welcomeamerica.com
Our Favorite Founding
Polymath
FAIRMOUNT
Bastille Day
July 13
A French-themed street
party culminates with the
Philly masses storming
the Eastern State Peni-
tentiary while a Marie
Antoinette look-alike
tosses out Tastykakes.
easternstate.org
Benjamin Franklin’s three-story
house at Third and Market was
razed in 1812, but Ghost House, a
white-steel outline built on its former site, has served as a spectral
reminder since 1976. Standing in
the brick thicket of the city’s historic area, this modernist memorial by internationally renowned
architects Robert Venturi and
John Rauch, with Denise Scott
Brown, is as striking as it is poetic.
But while Ghost House has aged
beautifully, the exhibits inside the
underground museum beneath
Ben Franklin’s
museum gets a
21st-century update
it—created in concert with Ghost
House for the Bicentennial—
closed two years ago for a major
renovation. The new Benjamin
Franklin Life & Legacy Museum’s
2.0 update finally will be unveiled
Aug. 25. It houses the same artifacts, but new hands-on interactive displays and touch-screen
computer games let visitors virtually step into Franklin’s shoes. The
museum also has a new Twitter
presence—@SkuggsFranklin,
named after the squirrel Franklin
gifted his daughter. No doubt
Franklin, a lightning rod for innovation, would appreciate the new
digs, but could he fit his appraisal
into 140 characters? 215-965-2305,
nps.gov/inde
OLD CITY
Philadelphia
QFest
July 11–22
This 19th annual film
fest always acces-
sorizes its features,
documentaries, shorts
and world premieres—
made by or about mem-
bers of the gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgen-
der communities—with
a pair of glitzy opening
and closing night galas.
qfest.com
Art and design for the younger set While the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s family-focused programs have been on the rise, nothing has compared so far to Art Splash (June 28–Sept. 2), two months of kid-related exhibitions and activities dreamed up by an interdisciplinary team of museum curators and educators. Five exhibitions, all located at the Perelman Building, feature the art of Jerry Pinkney, the Philadelphia-born children’s book illustrator; fine-art photographers’ pictures of
family; children’s fashion; and the installation of a storybook
environment, complete with characters in costumes, created by
local artist Candy Coated. And “Design for the Modern Child,” a
look at kids’ toys, furniture and tableware from post-World War II till
today, spills into the atrium, where wee ones and the young at heart
can climb into a custom-built Cardboard Cubby House by Australian
architects Bennett and Trimble. 215-763-8100; philamuseum.org
CAMDEN WATERFRONT
XPoNential
Music Festival
July 26–28
The Lumineers and Dr.
Dog are the headliners
at this annual festival
from the University of
Pennsylvania’s public
radio station. xpn.org
SCHWENKSVILLE
Folkfest
Aug. 16–18
This 52nd annual cel-
ebration of folk music
brings together story-
tellers, musicians and
artisans for Philly’s (and
2013’s) answer to Wood-
stock. folkfest.org
For additional
event, attraction,
restaurant and hotel
information, go to
arrivecityguides.com
MUSEUM/CASSON MANN; COUR TES Y OF PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF AR T
