Two local DIY music festivals, Make Music Philly and West Philly Porchfest, are returning in June and currently recruiting musicians and venues.

West Philly Porchfest returns on June 3 from Noon – 6 p.m. It features musicians of all musical genres performing free shows on porches, stoops and lawns. Musicians who sign up to participate in the Fest will be matched with their host porch. Sign ups are still open for both parties. Sign up here if you want to host a show. Musicians who want to perform at the Fest can contact the organizers on this page. Both parties can connect on the West Philly Porchfest Musician/Porch Connector on Facebook. More info about the Fest is here. Continue Reading

A petting zoo will return to Clark Park on May 13 as part of the Spruce Hill May Fair (archive photo).

The Spruce Hill Community Association’s annual May Fair is set to return to Clark Park at 43rd and Chester after a three-year break on Saturday, May 13 from noon to 6 p.m. The 65th annual edition of the fair features family-friendly activities, arts and crafts vendors, live music, food purveyors and a raffle. The event is free and open to the public.

The 2023 May Fair will again be focused on family fun, with live music, outdoor games, an inflatable slide, face painting and a petting zoo. As always, food vendors will be on hand to serve up delicious treats.

The event will also feature vendors offering an array of arts, crafts and other items for sale. The University City Garden Club will be present with a large selection of herbs, perennials, vegetables, and other plants for sale. A raffle will offer attendees the opportunity to win a variety of exciting prizes from some of West Philadelphia’s favorite businesses. And live music will be playing on the stage throughout the day! Continue Reading

This Saturday, April 22 is Earth Day, and here are a couple of West Philly events where you can celebrate it.

Kimberly McGlonn outside the new store.

• Grand opening celebration for Grant Blvd’s new flagship store will be held from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. in the Shop Penn Retail District on Earth Day. The sustainable clothing brand will use the new space on 140 S. 34th Street to create jobs making items like zero waste shirting and men and women’s work wear pieces. The store in University City will also provide both pricing and fabric story transparency for garments, so shoppers can understand the cost of the items.

Created in 2017, Grant Blvd is one of the largest female Black-owned businesses in Philadelphia and North America’s first Black-owned B Corp in the fashion industry. For more information about the business and its founder and CEO Kimberly McGlonn, read our story here. Continue Reading

Spruce Hill map / SHCA website.

Spruce Hill residents can have some input in what types of businesses may operate in the neighborhood in the near future. The Safe Streets and Commercial Corridors Committee of the Spruce Hill Community Association’s (SHCA) Board is seeking community input (those who live or/and work there) on preferred retail options in the neighborhood through an online Retail Preference Survey that can be accessed via this link.

The overall goal is to not only attract more businesses to invest in the neighborhood, which is located between 38th and 46th streets and between Market and Woodland, but to attract the type of businesses that the community wants in the neighborhood. SHCA is seeking to get as much data as possible from all segments of the community, so please share this survey with your friends and neighbors.

For more information about SHCA, visit their website.

Voted Metro Philly’s Best Annual Festival, the Lancaster Avenue Jazz & Arts Festival is kicking off Earth Day Weekend this Friday (April 21) with the first of six Community Pop-Ups. The festival organizer, HopePHL’s team will be at The Porch at 30th Street Station from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. with Dylan Band. All are invited to enjoy the food vendors, meet other jazz enthusiasts, and swing on the big swings!

Save the date for the Lancaster Avenue Jazz & Arts Festival, Saturday, July 15, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Saunders Park Greene (39th St. and Powelton Ave.). Visit the HopePHL website for all of the upcoming events.

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (center) displays a facsimile sign along with Vernoca L. Michael (left), former executive director of the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance/Paul Robeson House and Museum; Janice Sykes-Ross (right), executive director, and former Councilmember Jannie Blackwell (far right).

The draping came down on a new street sign at the corner of 50th and Walnut Streets Friday morning as the 4900 block of Walnut Street became “Paul L. Robeson Way.”

Dozens of local officials, including Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton, neighbors and supporters of the Paul Robeson House and Museum were on hand for the street-renaming ceremony near 4951 Walnut, where Robeson lived with his sister Marian Forsythe for the last 10 years of his life. He died in 1976.

“Paul Robeson became one of the most devoted fighters at home and abroad,” said Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier, who introduced resolutions in City Council renaming the block and designating April 9 as “Paul Robeson Day.” “He did this during a time when racists regularly lynched people who looked like him for speaking out against injustice.” Continue Reading