Malcolm X Park will be hosting several community events this summer. Here are a couple coming up soon.

The Garden Court Community Association is inviting families with young children to a new event series – Children’s Read Aloud! The series will be held every other Thursday at 5 p.m., from June 20 to September 12, and feature books by local authors – a different author each week! Families will get an opportunity to get free books (while supplies last) and/or purchase books from Hakim’s Bookstore. See the flyer below for more details.

Thursday, June 20 is also a kick-off day for the popular Jazz Heritage Series, featuring free shows performed by some of the best local musicians. This event is also held every other Thursday from June through September, at 6:30 p.m. For more information on the upcoming performances and other updates, follow the Friends of Malcolm X Park on Instagram.

Stay tuned for more events later this summer, including the beloved Theatre in the X performances.

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Image from Juneteenthphilly.org

The annual Juneteenth Parade and Festival will take place on Sunday, June 16. The parade, grand marshaled by Mayor Cherelle Parker, will kick off at Noon on South Concourse Drive across from the Mann Center. It will proceed down 52nd Street toward Malcolm X Park at 52nd and Larchwood where it is expected to conclude around 2 p.m. The 2024 Juneteenth Parade is expected to attract around 2,000 participants and 20,000 attendees. The event will be broadcasted by 6ABC.

Malcolm X Park will be a location for the annual Juneteenth Festival, which includes a marketplace, art exhibition, live music performances and more.

The Juneteenth Marketplace and Art in the Park will be held throughout the day (from 10 a.m.- 8 p.m.). The marketplace will feature Black and Brown-owned businesses and vendors offering food and wares, while the Art in the Park exhibit, titled Unveiling Creativity and in partnership with the Mural Arts of Philadelphia, is an opportunity to meet local artists and check out their work. In addition, many local non-profit organizations will be doing outreach and hosting activities at the park throughout the day.

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UPDATE (4/8/2024):

Film production trucks and trailers were parked along 52nd Street on Monday while filming took place at Malcolm X Park.

(4/7/2024): Several streets around Malcolm X. Park will be closed from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday, April 8 as a film crew from the Netflix show The Madness shoots in the park.

Friends of Malcolm X. Park reported that public access to the park will also be closed during these hours. The streets adjacent to the park have been posted and remaining cars will be towed to a nearby street.

Here’s a letter from the production company with more details:

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Community members are invited to participate in a new socially-engaged photography and archival project which kicks off at Malcolm X Park on Wednesday, March 20. The project, titled What is West?, includes a series of free community workshops and a public art installation at the park.

The goal of the project, sponsored by The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage and The Arts League, is to “give the authority and tools to define West Philadelphia as it exists for its community.”

“Recognizing lived experience as expertise while utilizing public art as a means of exploration, this project will allow our neighbors to move towards collective healing and justice,” reads the project description on the Arts League website.

Another project objective is to document West Philadelphia, a large area comprised of many different neighborhoods, as a place known for its “neighborly warmth, diversity, and collective optimism.” Historically, it has been documented for its issues.

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Great news for Malcolm X Memorial Park and local community advocates! The 188th District was recently awarded a state grant of over $76,000 which will be used to bring important improvements to the park. The grant will be used to repair the park gazebo, bathrooms and lighting. State Rep. Rick Krajewski, whose office worked on securing the grant, posted the following message on social media:

“If we want to fight for our young people and build a real sense of public safety for all, we need to make more investments like this one. Congrats to the Friends of Malcolm X Park! This will make a big difference for the 188th.”

Friends of Malcolm X Park is a volunteer-run group who organizes various events and activities at the park, including regular cleanups, and advocates for new resources. In recent years, the park has been home to such events as community/health fairs, outdoor theater shows by Theatre in the X, Juneteenth Festival, outdoor film screenings, and many recreational activities.

The West Philly-based Black theatre company, Theatre in the X, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month by presenting Zooman and the Sign, a rarely-staged work by the legendary late Philadelphia-born playwright Charles Fuller. The performances will be offered to audiences for free at Malcolm X Park from August 17-20.

In the play set in Southwest Philadelphia in 1979, Zooman senselessly terrorizes his community. When he kills a 12-year-old Black girl on the street, all witnesses refuse to talk. Bereaved and infuriated, the dead girl’s father posts a sign accusing the entire community of cowardice in the face of escalating violence. The play was first presented off-Broadway by Negro Ensemble Company at Theater Four in New York City on December 7, 1980.

Theatre in the X company members said they feel that their play is relevant to the issues of community violence currently taking place throughout the city.

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