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  • 14 events to look forward to in Philly this year that aren’t the World Cup or the 250th

    14 events to look forward to in Philly this year that aren’t the World Cup or the 250th

    You can’t turn around these days in Philly without someone telling you this is going to be a big year for the city, including me. You get it, things are happening, people are coming, but I bet you mostly just want to know how you can either join in on the parties or figure out how much they’re going to annoy you.

    I usually try to temper my expectations — one, because I’ve learned a few things in 18 years here and two, because I like to be pleasantly surprised. But I’ve recently found myself imagining what the big moments will be like: the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament in March; the PGA Championship in May; the FIFA World Cup and MLB-All Star games this summer; and the yearlong celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

    Antoine Watts, back left, and Michael Clement, front center, participate in the Red, White, and Blue To-Do Pomp & Parade at Independence Hall in 2024.

    I have big hopes and some worries for Philadelphia, just like I do for everything I love.

    And while the stuff above is a lot, it’s not everything going on here this year, not even close. So if you’re seeking alternatives to the big to-dos, looking to keep your calendar full all year long, or just hoping to run into Mark Ruffalo, here are 14 more Philly happenings to look forward to this year.

    (Dates are subject to change. Check related websites for updates.)

    Jan. 30: Philly is Unrivaled

    The first big event features incredible athletes you won’t see in any of the major sporting events I mentioned above: women.

    Unrivaled, a three-on-three format women’s basketball league, is holding a doubleheader at Xfinity Mobile Arena to kick off its first tour later this month.

    Rose BC guard Chelsea Gray (12) drives past Lunar Owls wing Rebecca Allen (9) in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball game Jan. 5 in Medley, Fla.

    The games will undoubtedly hype up fans for when Philly gets its own WNBA expansion team in 2030 and prove to any doubters that Philly is a women’s sports town (we even have a shirt that says it).

    Some tickets remain. The games will also be televised on TNT and truTV.

    Feb. 6 — 22: The Winter Olympics

    The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in northern Italy will feature a host of local athletes and at least one famous Philly podcaster. Watching it also doesn’t require you to leave your house, so win-win.

    Four Philadelphia Flyers will be playing Olympic hockey: Travis Sanheim for Canada, Rasmus Ristolainen for Finland, Dan Vladar will represent Czechia, and Rodrigo Abols will take the ice for Latvia.

    People take photos in front of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics rings, in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.

    Other local athletes will undoubtedly qualify, but I don’t have a full list yet so don’t email me asking why I didn’t mention your cousin-in-law on the U.S. Curling Team.

    Kylie Kelce will also serve as a digital content creator for NBCUniversal’s Creator Collective and she’ll have on-the-ground access to the games to produce social media content.

    Go Birds. Go Team U.S.A.

    Feb. 14: ‘Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition’

    How much fun can learning about theme parks be without the roller coaster rides, immersive lands, or concession stands? Philly will find out next month when the Franklin Institute premieres: “Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition.”

    An artists’ conceptual rendering of the Franklin Institute’s “Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition,” which is slated to open Feb. 14.

    The new exhibit spans eight galleries and tracks the history and world-building of Universal’s theme parks. It was created by the team at the Franklin, who hope it will introduce young visitors to science and tech careers in the theme park industry.

    I’m hoping there’s a section about whatever alien incantation protects the E.T. Adventure ride, which opened in 1990 and is the last remaining original ride at Universal Studios Florida. The high-tech stuff is awesome, but there’s nothing that beats the nostalgia of that flying bicycle ride and the flashlight-fingered alien.

    March 14: Ministry of Awe opens

    The more I hear about the Ministry of Awe the less I understand it, and the more intrigued I become.

    The permanent, six-story immersive art experience helmed by Philly muralist Meg Saligman inside of Manufacturers National Bank in Old City “transforms an abandoned 19th-century bank into a fantastical, seemingly impossible institution that trades in the many enigmatic facets of humanity,” according to its website.

    Guests will be encouraged to question what they value and to wander the multimedia art space, which will lean into a banking theme and includes a room for counterfeiting. Actors will be on hand to enliven their experiences.

    Muralist Meg Saligman inside of the still-under-construction Ministry of Awe in November. Opening date is March 14.

    “There’s a teller that smells you. You will walk through and be delighted and surprised along the way,” Saligman told The Inquirer.

    The Ministry of Awe says we all already have accounts open there and one thing is for certain, my interest rate is sky-high.

    April 14 — May 31: ‘1776 The Musical’

    There are not many musicals set in Philadelphia and the one thing you can say about 1776 is that it’s one of them.

    The production about the events that led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence never became a juggernaut like Hamilton and didn’t produce any smash songs. But after rewatching the film version last Independence Day, I can safely say it’s still a pretty good musical. Especially if you hate John Adams, or love watching people hate on him.

    While it would have been epic if this production could have been staged at Independence Hall this year, seeing it at the Walnut Street Theatre — the country’s oldest theater, which opened just 32 years after 1776 — is a close second.

    April 16: Cruise ships begin sailing out of Philly

    For the first time in nearly two decades, cruise ships will return to the region this spring, offering locals a chance to seas the day with an aquatic trip abroad.

    Construction of the Port of Philadelphia (PhilaPort) Cruise Terminal began last month in Tinicum Township, Delaware County, at a site adjacent to the Philadelphia International Airport that was formerly known as the Hog Island Dock Terminal Facility.

    (How’s that for a local word salad — a Philly port in Delco at a dock named after the place that may have inspired the word hoagie.)

    A conceptual rendering of the future PhilaPort Cruise Terminal, a 16-acre site adjacent to Philadelphia International Airport.

    Norwegian Cruise Lines has exclusive rights to sail out of the PhilaPort Cruise Terminal through March 2033. According to its website, the first voyage will be a seven-day round-trip to Bermuda.

    Fear not the Bermuda Triangle, my fair Philadelphians, for we’ve weathered far stranger things here following Super Bowl wins, and on an average Tuesday.

    April 18: Monster Jam at the Linc

    If you think the Birds are beasts on their home turf, buckle up, because 12,000-pound trucks are coming to Lincoln Financial Field this spring as part of Monster Jam’s Stadium Championship Series.

    Foam teeth line the front of the Megalodon monster truck at Monster Jam at Lincoln Financial Field in 2023.

    When I hear Monster Jam my first thought is “It’s probably boysenberry,” or “I wonder if it’s as fun as a mash?” but if you have little ones who love things that go vroom — or you do — this auto be wheelie good time.

    May: The Greyhound station reopens

    Slated to come back from the dead this spring like it was Kenny or Jon Snow will be Philly’s intercity bus terminal, formerly known as the Greyhound station.

    The Philadelphia Parking Authority will operate the terminal on behalf of the city, which has gone more than two years without a facility since Greyhound left the terminal at 10th and Filbert Streets in 2023 after 35 years.

    Corner of the former Greyhound station at North 10th and Filbert Streets in 2018.

    In the aftermath, buses used public street curbs to pick up travelers, who were forced to wait outdoors in the elements and had very little access to basic amenities, like bathrooms. The whole situation was bus-ted and I’ll be glad to see it fixed.

    June 12: ‘Disclosure Day’ premieres

    Filmed in parts of South Jersey last year and featuring Philly’s own Colman Domingo, Disclosure Day is an alien thriller from director Steven Spielberg that I can’t wait to get my tentacles on.

    I love good sci-fi and this one has a screenplay by David Koepp, who also wrote the screenplay for Jurassic Park, one of my favorite movies of all time. The trailer for Disclosure Day is intriguing, unsettling, and reveals little about the plot, but I already find the movie authentic: If aliens were to land anywhere, South Jersey seems like a fitting place.

    At the end of the trailer, a nun says “Why would He make a vast universe yet save it only for us?” which hearkens to a famous Carl Sagan quote: “The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.”

    Aug. 30: Philadelphia Cycling Classic returns

    If there’s one thing Philadelphians love doing, it’s partying while watching other people exercise and this year they’ll get to do it again at the Manayunk Wall when the Philadelphia Cycling Classic returns after a 10-year hiatus.

    Held for 30 years before it was canceled in 2016 due to lack of sponsorship, the race follows a 14.4-mile course from Center City to Manayunk, where cyclists must climb the “Manayunk Wall,” a stretch of Levering Street with a 17% gradient.

    Women cyclists pedal up Levering Street, aka the “Manayunk Wall,” during the Liberty Classic TD Bank International Championship race in 2011. The race is returning this year as the Philadelphia International Cycling Classic.

    Back in the day, people partied like it was Two Street on New Year’s along the route in Manayunk, particularly at the Wall. As bikers cycled through the course, spectators cycled through kegs and cowbells, with some folks on Levering Street charging admission to their house parties and others hanging beer banner ads on their porches for a fee.

    Also slated in 2026, but dates remain unknown:

    A conceptual rendering of FloatLab, set to be installed at Bartram’s Garden on the Schuylkill in 2026.
    • Opening of Mural Arts’ FloatLab: Located in the Schuylkill at Bartram’s Garden, FloatLab is a 75-foot installation and environmental center that will be “a convergence of art, architecture, and nature,” according to its creator, J. Meejin Yoon. The sloped, ADA-compliant circular platform, which allows visitors to look eye-level at the river while standing in it, will serve as both an educational and artistic space.
    • Gimme my Philly money: To mark the nation’s 250th, the U.S. Mint is releasing quarters with Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell on them this year and I’m going to need some of those for my piggy bank. Just to be clear, this does not change the fact that I’m still salty at the Mint for stopping penny production. What will people put in their loafers? How will Penny from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse see? It’s just cents-less.
    This new design for the quarter commemorates the U.S. Constitution and depicts Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed. The other side of this quarter has a depiction of President James Madison.

    Rumored in 2026, but in no way confirmed:

    From left: Thuso Mbedu (Aleah Clinton), Fabien Frankel (Anthony Grasso), Alison Oliver (Lizzie Stover), and Mark Ruffalo (Tom Brandis) in “Task.”
    • Task season 2: The Delco-set HBO thriller starring Mark Ruffalo was renewed for a second season and I’m hoping they start filming around Philly’s weirdest suburb this year (though creator Brad Ingelsby may have to write the script first). While it’s unclear if Ruffalo will reprise his role as FBI agent Tom Brandis, one of my resolutions this year is to frequent more local hoagie shops in the hopes of running into him, but also because I love hoagies.
    • Stranger Things spinoff?: Philly was named-dropped in the finale of the beloved sci-fi show, which got fans hypothesizing that the home of one of the greatest urban legends of all time — the Philadelphia Experiment — might be the setting for one of the confirmed spinoffs. Or it could just be subliminal advertising for Netflix House Philadelphia (which is actually in King of Prussia). An Instagram post from the show and Netflix on Wednesday only fueled rumors, with its caption: “meet me in philly.”
  • 2026 is a huge year for Philly. Here are your ideas for how we should tackle it.

    2026 is a huge year for Philly. Here are your ideas for how we should tackle it.

    Last year, I asked for your suggestions for what Philadelphia should create, destroy, or fix in advance of everything — and everyone — coming to our in our city in 2026.

    More than 600 ideas were submitted to The Inquirer for ways to improve the city as we prepare for the nation’s 250th anniversary, the FIFA World Cup, the MLB All-Star Game, and the NCAA Division I college basketball tournament next year.

    In other words, Philadelphians had thoughts. Of course, there were recurring themes that arose (more on those later), and there were folks who submitted suggestions well beyond the scope of the assignment. While I appreciate people’s visions, I don’t think we’re going to solve school funding, stop gun violence, end courtesy towing, or turn Regional Rail into a German-style S-Bahn by next year.

    But there were a lot of great ideas, and so, I now present this edited list, because if I included every suggestion, we’d be here until 2027.

    Simple things that are easy, free, or cheap to do

    • Cullen Kisner: “Drive around the city, literally section it off like trash trucks do, and remove any unnecessary traffic cones/street work signs/construction barricades/etc. It just [clogs] up the city and makes it look like a perpetual construction zone (which it is, but the tourists don’t need to know that).”
    • Brendan Yuhas suggests charging $17.76 for SEPTA passes and Indego bicycle rental passes during the week of Independence Day. He’d also like to see restaurants offer meals for $17.76.
    • Brian Smart suggests illuminating the William Penn statue atop City Hall at night.
    • Beth LaPiene: “We need longer pedestrian crossing times on Center City streets. How does anyone cross Broad Street in 15 seconds, especially if it’s crowded?” (Another reader raised this issue with Vine Street as well.)

    Things that take some amount of time and/or money to address

    • Jason Berkhimer and Rogelio Ayllon separately requested that Philadelphia adopt a new city flag, an idea previously explored by The Inquirer. Berkhimer wrote that a new flag is “incredibly important to sew unity in this partisan time” (his pun, not mine), while Ayllon said it could be marketed on merchandise, making it “a win for vendors … and a win for the city in tax dollars.”
    • Anonymous: “Install compass roses outside of all El, trolley, subway, PATCO, and Regional Rail access points so people can quickly get an idea of which direction they need to go when reaching the surface street.”
    • The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides and numerous readers who submitted their ideas independently would like to see the following reopened for 2026: City Tavern, the Declaration House, the LOVE Park Saucer, and the Second Bank portrait gallery.
    • Of course, Philly is all about the Benjamin Franklin too. Tom Rosenberg suggested rehabbing the exterior of Franklin’s post office on Market Street. “It’s dilapidated and looks awful,” he wrote. Rich Armandi bemoaned the fact that a plaque at the Second and Market Street subway stop in Old City that marked the site of Franklin’s first print shop has been missing since 2024. He wants it replaced, and he’d like a mural there that envisions what Franklin’s print shop might have looked like.
    • The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (who submitted a lot of great ideas in a well-curated slideshow) would like to see the Franklin Court Printing Office, a replica of an 18th century printing office, open seven days a week, instead of just weekends.

    Big things that take time, money, and cooperation

    • Several people asked for the city and the National Park Service to work together to make Independence Mall “more than a desolate lawn.” One suggested that an “easy change would be to move some existing statues or art installations from more obscure/lower visibility places (like Fairmount Park and Kelly Drive).” Other readers proposed adding trees, benches, and water features.
    • Jack Bellis would like to see the concourse below Broad Street (from Market to Locust) turned into a rainy-day attraction with Philly vendors and a centerpiece mini-golf course “created either in part or wholly by school students, in which each of the holes highlights a Philadelphia tourist attraction.”
    • Pete Silberman: “My idea is to repurpose the Southwark Piers, also known as Piers 38 and 40, to be playing fields and sports facilities.”
    • Mark Methlie’s idea is to “follow Boston’s lead” and create our own version of the Freedom Trail, a trail embedded in roads and sidewalks that leads to notable spots (which I also proposed after visiting Boston in 2024). Methlie, however, suggests multiple trails leading out of the Convention Center, including ones for history, art, science, cultural institutions, and food.
    • Bob Dix: “I would love to see the water taxis languishing under 95 to be taken out of mothballs and used for tours or transport … and they could be used for transit to the FIFA events in FDR.”
    • Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides: “Create an introduction park to Elfreth’s Alley at Second Street in the empty lot. Design it to include native shrubs, shade, colonial lamps, benches, and information displays.” (Note: In late November, it was announced that this one is planned to happen!)

    Fun activities and events

    • Tori Beard: “I’m a big fan of a Colonial Day Fest idea. Think Ren Fest, but for colonial-style activities and dress. Bonnets, butter churning, powdered wigs. Could even be held in the Independence Hall area.” (Note: The Museum of the American Revolution hosts an annual living history interpretation weekend called Revolutionary Philadelphia, but it would be great to see it expanded for 2026.)
    • The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides suggests creating a tour and a music festival highlighting The Sound of Philadelphia artists like Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and Tammi Terrell. I’d like to take it a step further and suggest a music festival in which current Philly musicians pay homage to Philadelphia musicians who came before them, regardless of genre. I’d love to see The Roots play the O’Jays, Jill Scott perform Bessie Smith, and Dr. Dog pay homage to Jim Croce.
    • Anonymous: “Pepper pot stew cook-off.”
    • Eli Fish: “Turn Headhouse Square into European-style plaza. No cars, tables in the street and under the headhouse cover, live music and outdoor dining. We know this can work because they started to do it during COVID and it was amazing.” (Note: This idea was also raised on Instagram by users who begged the city to “Make Headhouse interesting again.”)
    • Hugh Connelly suggests creating an iconic, solar-powered mural that looks like Philadelphia in 1776 during the daytime, but at night when a system of solar-powered lights illuminate it, the “new night image is one of futuristic Philly, a beacon for liberty for the next 250 years.”
    • Kevin Fennell: “There should be a steal the Declaration of Independence escape room.” Why yes there should be, along with a “National Treasure treasure hunt,” as suggested by one Instagram user.

    Off-the-wall ideas

    • Zach Marcum‘s idea is an official SEPTA cheesesteak joint: “We bring in a real Philly chef who will (for free) design us the perfect cheesesteak for maximum profit and quality balance. We line up sourcing with local suppliers in Philly — and the surrounding areas — I’m talking grain for the bread-type vertical integration — and then set up SEPTA cheesesteak carts throughout not just Philly but the state of Pennsylvania, and hire good local kids paying good wages to cook and distribute these cheesesteaks. As for all the people who are already in the cart business, we bring them in as middle managers or buy them out, or they can sell halal or whatever (sorry … I’m not a genius). With the profits we fund massive infrastructure improvements, spreading wealth and glory to all.”
    • Tom Dougherty proposes something like an “Epcot Village,” to show off the diversity of Philly’s food-and-beverage scene. A potential location could be FDR Park, where Dougherty suggests it could run in conjunction with the Southeast Asian Food Market.
    • Thomas Lake‘s idea is a Schuylkill ferry that would commute people from King of Prussia to the Philadelphia Art Museum and back, with stops in Norristown, Conshohocken, and Manayunk. “Might have to remove some dams?” he wrote. Yeah, a few, plus I’m told the river is far too shallow in spots and some bridges are too low for a ferry to navigate. Even though this one is implausible, it’s fun to dream about.
    • Catherine Robb Stahl: “You know how Tinker Bell flies down from the Disney castle at night on a zip line? Well, how about having Betsy Ross do the same thing from City Hall??? Fun, huh?!?! What a sight to see!”
    • Other off-the-wall ideas submitted without further context included: a community zip line and pool, a Gritty cave, a Gritty statue, secede from Pennsylvania, “Find a better word than Semiquincentennial,” hold a “Band things happen in Philadelphia LGBT concert band performance,” “No city tax for those who live within 1 mile of a pothole,” and “Make it abundantly clear in marketing to other U.S. cities that Philly rules.”

    Recurring themes

    Properly funding SEPTA is integral to Philly and any plans for 2026, as I said in my original column. While there’s since been a measure enacted to ensure it will operate for the next two years, SEPTA’s fate remains murky after that. At least a quarter, maybe more, of the responses I received mentioned SEPTA in some way.

    But people told me they want to see SEPTA more than just funded. They want it cleaned — deep cleaned — from the stairwells to the seats, like the entire system was exposed to nuclear waste (New Jersey commuters would also like their PATCO stations decontaminated too).

    “Tourists Take Transit. Let’s not show the world our dirty underwear,” Tally Brennan said via email.

    Scores of Philly-area residents wrote in asking for more public bathrooms, trash cans, water fountains, trees, shade, benches, pocket parks, trash cans, signage to city sites, protected bike lanes, trash cans, street cleaning, trash cans, programs to assist the unhoused, trash cans, murals, and underground parking lots. And for the love of all that is good and holy can we get at least one permanent pedestrian-only street in this city?

    Readers would also like to see the following repaired: the escalators at Jefferson Station, potholes, the lines on the road “so they’re visible and you don’t have to just guess,” “Fix the roads, all of them!” “ITS LIKE A BOMBED WAR ZONE,” and sinkholes.

    Many people said the entire Market East corridor needs a whole lot of love. Folks lament that it used to be a destination and now it’s filled with shuttered storefronts.

    While we learned in November that Comcast and the Sixers plan to demolish some buildings they own on the 1000 block of Market Street in time for next year’s events, it’s still unclear what they plan to put there.

    In the remaining vacant storefronts, readers suggested putting pop-up shops, art galleries, experiences, or doing a pop-up Philly History Museum.

    Finally, a very sweet reader asked me: “Please can we have the building on Broad Street that has the graffiti ‘Boner 4Ever’ painted over??? It’s truly an embarrassment.”

    Sorry, hun, but that’s a hard no. It’s 4Ever.

  • The world will be coming to Philly this year to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. We’re ready.

    The world will be coming to Philly this year to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. We’re ready.

    Nowhere will celebrate America’s 250th anniversary like Philadelphia. Because nowhere else can celebrate the national milestone like Philadelphia.

    Philly is where it happened.

    Only in Philadelphia, on July 4, 1776, did 56 sweat-soaked delegates of the Second Continental Congress stride into sweltering Independence Hall to stake their necks on an idea. In the course of human events, it had become time to declare self-evident truths. All men are created equal and endowed by certain unalienable rights.

    Some men, that is.

    This unforgivable erasure would have reverberations to this day. Nowhere are the centuries-old wounds of that betrayal more visible than in the unrelenting poverty, violence, and inequality preventing so many Philadelphians from their pursuit of happiness.

    But the manifesto was still the most revolutionary freedom document humankind ever produced. A single piece of parchment composed of elegant, unwavering prose that defied and dared an empire, forever reordered the rights of man, and drew the eyes of humanity — and judgments of history — upon our humble burg.

    Their work for the day done — and in keeping with the rest of the Founders’ stay in the City of Brotherly Love — the framers presumably dusted off their wigs, loosened up their waistcoats, and repaired to the cooling comfort of the City Tavern for a rager for the ages.

    Only in Philadelphia.

    Independence Hall in Independence National Historical Park Jan. 3, 2024. one of the Philadelphia region’s most visited areas, but the lustre has often seem faded in its grounds and buildings. But organizers say it will be different in time for 2026, the 250th birthday celebration of America.

    ‘Philly is beyond ready’

    Two-and-half centuries later, the eyes of the world again fall upon our Philly — for yet another rager for the ages.

    In Philly fashion, the city’s preparations for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, also known as the Semiquincentennial, stumbled to a rocky start. Poor funding, a lack of leadership, and miscommunication plagued early stages of Philly’s 250th party planning.

    But in truer Philly fashion, dozens of passionate Philadelphian civil servants, cultural leaders, artists, volunteers, and philanthropies rallied to ensure the city where it happened met the moment.

    Only a year ago, during a 2026 preparedness meetings, worried planners requested $100 million from city and state coffers to fund festivities and programming worthy of democracy’s birthplace. They have received it.

    “A year ago, we were having a conversation about, ‘Are we ready?’, ‘Is the money there?’, ‘Can we pull this off?’” said Max Weisman, an aide to Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, a key planner. “Yes, yes, yes.”

    Philadelphia is ready, the planners say. Have no doubt.

    These Philly-loving patriots say they have organized a once-in-a-lifetime party equal to the city’s unparalleled role in history — and its irrepressibly proud personality.

    “Philly is beyond ready,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation and Philadelphia250, the city’s key planning partner for 2026. “Everyone is pulling out the red carpet. Every museum. Every cultural institution. Every neighborhood organization. Everyone is doing something special for the company that’s coming.”

    In this depiction published in The Inquirer July 1, 1951, the first event of July 4, 1876, was a huge military parade. The celebration was held in Independence Square after the parade.

    A ‘reintroduction to the world’

    Look around. Everywhere signs abound of the already-underway party. In the scores of new museum exhibits grandly exploring every power and contradiction enshrined in the declaration bellowed out of Philadelphia 250 years ago. In the abundance of plans for neighborhood programming and beautifications that bring the party to the people in 2026. In new ventures honoring Philly diversity and pride. In the polish and paint in the works for the Historic District.

    Hey, Philly cleans up when it needs to.

    It was visible when a parade of ships sailed along the Delaware in October to kick off the 250th anniversary of the Navy, founded in Philly. And it was heard in the crisp salutes and solemn hymns of the Marines who crowded Old City in November to mark their branch’s founding, also in Philly in 1775. It builds in the excitement of clock-ticking preparations for the string of big-ticket events that will grace Philadelphia in 2026.

    Six FIFA World Cup matches, with a summer fan festival and volunteer-training campus. The MLB All-Star Game. A pumped-up Fourth of July with to-be-announced special guests. TED Democracy talks featuring citizen speakers from Philly and beyond, exploring democracy’s painful past and uncertain present.

    It rings out in the genuine excitement of Philadelphians who work in ceaseless dedication to the principle that Philadelphians know how to throw a party.

    Philadelphia is not screwing up a party, is Weisman’s mantra (except he doesn’t say, “screwing.”)

    Matthew Skic, of Morristown, N.J., Director of Collections and Exhibitions, (left), and Michael Hensinger, of Fishtown, Pa., Senior Manager of K-12 Education, (right), are dressed as Minute Men from the Massachusetts Militia at the opening of the exhibit Banners of Liberty which showcased the original revolutionary war flags at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Pa., on Saturday, April 19, 2025.

    Not just a party. A year-long, city-wide commemoration that delivers Philadelphia into a more prosperous future. Before city planners found their 250th footing, Philly tourism and cultural leaders banded together to seize the opportunity. With more than 500,000 visitors expected for the World Cup alone, they aim to reintroduce Philadelphia to the world.

    “Or introduce ourselves for the very first time to people who do not know Philadelphia or have a very narrow view of Philadelphia,” said Angela Val, president and CEO of Visit Philadelphia, the nonprofit that serves as the city’s official leisure-tourism marketing agency. “We don’t take these big events lightly. They are investments. This is really an opportunity to set ourselves up for success in 2026 and beyond.”

    Parties of the past

    We’ve been here before.

    Every 50 years since 1876, the nation’s Centennial year, and America’s first major birthday bash, Philly has dusted off its wig to get down. Each of these events came with larger national wounds.

    “Before every one of these fairs, there’s a scar,” said David Brigham, librarian and CEO of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, referring to Philly’s previous national birthday parties. “There’s always been a conflict and a pain.”

    And in these moments, Philly has strove to be a salve, he said. Most of the time, anyway.

    In 1876, when America reeled from unhealed wounds of the Civil War, Philadelphia built a small city in Fairmount Park — and hosted 10 million people from 37 countries. The showcase of growing American innovation and economic prowess aimed to heal a ruptured nation. Memorial Hall, its massive art gallery, remains today as the Please Touch Museum.

    In 1926, as America emerged from the carnage of World War I, our Sesquicentennial marked the building of the Ben Franklin Bridge, the transformation of what is now FDR Park, and the construction of a temporary, gleaming, utopian metropolis in South Philly.

    The Bicentennial in 1976 led to the creation of the Mann Center and the African American Museum in Philadelphia, even if the party itself was marred by Mayor Frank Rizzo’s heavy-handed security — he summoned 15,000 National Guard members.

    We’ve been here before. And we aren’t perfect.

    As ready as Philadelphia stands, next year’s commemoration will not include the big legacy projects of past celebrations, the bridges, stadium, and new museums.

    But maybe that’s not what this moment is about, anyway.

    An unfinished journey

    Just as past planners grappled with the questions of their American moment, Philadelphia organizers wrestle with ours.

    “It’s a commemoration of why our republic was created,” Lovell said. “But also about a recommitment to the ideals that were established. We were founded on these basic principles and values that the Founding Fathers fought over. And we’re still fighting over it.”

    It’s that same theme — the grand fragility of our American experiment — that pulses though the Museum of the American Revolution’s landmark exhibit, “The Declaration’s Journey.”

    A breath-taking assemblage of rare artifacts, including Thomas Jefferson’s writing chair and Martin Luther King’s prison bench, the museum’s most ambitious show ever explores the 250-year global impact of the declaration. How words proclaimed out from Philadelphia inspired revolutions and freedom movements throughout the centuries

    “The American Revolution is not synonymous with the Revolutionary War,” said R. Scott Stephenson, president of the museum. “It is a centuries-long, ongoing experiment in liberty, equality, and self-government.”

    And that journey’s not yet over.

    The birth of democracy in Philadelphia, and the worldwide struggle to sustain it, represents the most significant event since the birth of Christ, said filmmaker Ken Burns. (And here we though it was Super Bowl LII.)

    The American war may be over, but the revolution is not, said Burns, whose 12-hour docuseries, “The American Revolution,” is streaming on PBS.

    All we were promised was the pursuit, he said. And the chance to forever make the imperfect a little less so.

    The republic the Founders forged in the Philly heat stands the most divided and tested it has been in decades, with core disagreements about its very foundations.

    It is only right, then, that Philadelphians march onto the global stage. Who else but us?

    In every way, being America’s birthplace shapes Philadelphia. Where else is its hallowed iconography such a daily staple? Where else does its symbolism so powerfully frame every civic successes — and failure? Every sports triumph and cultural happening. Every step forward; every stumble backward.

    Where else does the promise and contradictions of a proclamation that turned the world upside down so intrinsically coarse through the lifeblood of a place?

    Where is it all so still alive?

    Where else but where it all happened.

    Only in Philadelphia.

  • The 10 weirdest stories from the Philly area in 2025

    The 10 weirdest stories from the Philly area in 2025

    Way back in 2022, when Philadelphians gathered on an abandoned pier to watch a man eat a rotisserie chicken, folks on social media began to wonder: “Is Philadelphia a real place?”

    This year, that question became a declarative sentence.

    “Philadelphia is not a real place.”

    Sure, that perception has a lot to do with an unbelievable event that actually happened in the suburbs (Delco never fails to carry its weight), but Philly also saw its fair share of the bizarre this year, too.

    As we prepare for what may be one of the most important (and hopefully weirdest!) years in modern Philadelphia history, let’s take some time to look back on the peculiar stories from across the region that punctuated 2025.

    Five uh-oh

    Kevon Darden was sworn in as a part-time police officer for Collingdale Borough on Jan. 12 and hit the ground running, landing his first arrest just four days later.

    The only problem? It was his own.

    Pennsylvania State Police charged Darden with terroristic threats and related offenses for an alleged road rage incident in 2023 in which he’s accused of pointing a gun at a driver on the Blue Route in Ridley Township. At the time of the alleged incident Darden was employed as an officer at Cheyney University.

    A Pennsylvania State Police vehicle. The agency provided two clean background checks for a Collingdale police officer this year, only to arrest him four days after he started the job.

    Here’s the thing — it was state police who provided not one but two clean background checks on Darden to Collingdale officials before he was hired. An agency spokesperson told The Inquirer troopers had to wait on forensic evidence tests and approval from the District Attorney’s Office before filing charges.

    Darden subsequently resigned and is scheduled for trial next year in Delaware County Court.

    For the Birds

    The Eagles’ second Super Bowl win provided a wellspring of wacky — and sometimes dicey — moments on and off the field early this year.

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker started the championship run off strong by going viral for misspelling the most popular chant in the city as “E-L-G-S-E-S” during a news conference. Her mistake made the rounds on late night talk shows and was plastered onto T-shirts, beer coozies, and even a license plate. If you think the National Spelling Bee is brutal, you’ve never met Eagles fans.

    Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts at the line of scrimmage during the fourth quarter of the NFC divisional playoff at Lincoln Financial Field on Jan. 19. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Los Angeles Rams 28 to 22.

    Then there was the snowy NFC divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field; continued drama around the Tush Push (which resulted in Dude Wipes becoming an official sponsor of the team); and Cooper DeJean’s pick-six, a gift to himself and us on his 22nd birthday that helped the Birds trounce the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX.

    As soon as the Eagles won with Jalen Hurts as MVP, Philadelphians let loose, flooding the streets like a drunken green tsunami. Fans scaled poles and tore them down; danced on bus shelters, medic units, and trash trucks; partied with Big Foot, Ben Franklin, and Philly Elmo; and set a bonfire in the middle of Market Street.

    Eagles fans party on trash trucks in the streets of Center City after the Birds win in Super Bowl LIX against the Chiefs on Feb. 9.

    Finally, there was the parade, a Valentine’s Day love letter to the Eagles from Philadelphia. Among the more memorable moments was when Birds general manager Howie Roseman was hit in the head with a can of beer thrown from the crowd. He took his battle scar in pride, proclaiming from the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum: “I bleed for this city.”

    As we say around here, love Hurts.

    Throngs of Birds fans lined the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the Eagles Super Bowl Parade on Feb. 14.

    A $40 million goodbye

    As far as inanimate objects go, few have experienced more drama in recent Philly history than the SS United States, the 73-year-old, 990-foot luxury liner that was docked for nearly three decades on the Delaware River waterfront.

    Supporters spent more than $40 million on rent, insurance, and other measures to keep the ship in Philly with the hopes of returning it to service or at least turning it into a venue. But a rent dispute with the owners of the pier finally led a judge to order the SS United States Conservancy, which owned the vessel, to seek an alternate solution.

    Workers on the Walt Whitman Bridge watch from above as the SS United States is pulled by tug boats on the Delaware River.

    And so in February, with the help of five tugboats, the ship was hauled out of Philly to prepare it to become the world’s largest artificial reef off the coast of Okaloosa County, Fla.

    If the United States has to end somewhere, Florida feels like an apt place.

    The ‘Delco Pooper’

    While the Eagles’ Tush Push was deemed legal by NFL owners this year, a Delaware County motorist found that another kind of tush push most definitely is not after she was arrested for rage pooping on the hood of a car during a roadway dispute in April.

    Captured on video by a teen who witnessed the rear-ending, the incident quickly went viral and put a stain on Delco that won’t be wiped away anytime soon.

    Christina Solometo, who was dubbed the “Delco Pooper” on social media, told Prospect Park Police she got into a dispute with another driver, whom she believed began following her. Solometo claimed when she got out of her car the other driver insulted her and so she decided to dump her frustrations on their hood.

    A private security guard holds the door open for alleged “Delco Pooper” Christina Solometo following her preliminary hearing Monday at Prospect Park District Court.

    “Solometo said, ‘I wanted to punch her in the face, but I pooped on her car instead and went home,’” according to the affidavit.

    I’ve written a lot of stories about Delco in my time, but this may be the most absurd.

    Solometo, 44, of Ridley Park, entered into a rehabilitation program for first-time offenders on Dec. 16.

    Hopefully, she won’t be clogging up the court system anymore.

    The Delco pope

    Delco is large, it contains multitudes, and never was that more clear than when two weeks after the Delco Pooper case broke, a Delco pope was elected.

    OK, so Pope Leo XIV is technically a native of Chicago, but he attended undergrad at Villanova University — which, yes, technically straddles Delco and Montgomery County — but Delco’s had a tough year so I’m gonna give it this one.

    This video screen grab shows Pope Leo XIV wearing a Villanova University hat gifted to him during a meeting with an Italian heritage group.

    Born Robert Prevost, Pope Leo is the first U.S. pope in history and also a citizen of Peru. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Villanova in 1977 and an honorary doctor of humanities from the university in 2014.

    The odds that anyone with Delco ties would become pope are astronomical and folks celebrated appropriately by betting on his papacy, boasting about personal connections, and wondering what his Wawa order was.

    Whiskey business

    Center City Sips, the Wednesday Center City happy hour program, long ago earned a reputation as a rite of passage for 20-somethings who are still figuring out how to limit their intake and want to do so in business casual attire.

    Things seemed to calm down after the pandemic, but then Philadelphians took Sips to another level and a whole new place this year — the streets.

    @its.morganalexis #philly #sips ♬ Almost forgot that this was the whole point – Take my Hand Instrumental – AntonioVivald

    Videos showed hundreds of people partying in the streets of Midtown Village on Wednesday nights this summer. Granted, the parties look far more calm than when sports fans take over Philly after a big win, but the nearby bar owners who participate in the Sips program said their places sat empty as people brought their own alcohol to drink.

    Jason Evenchik, who owns Time, Vintage, Garage, and other bars, told The Inquirer that “No one is inside, and it’s mayhem outside.”

    “Instead, he claimed, people are selling alcohol out of their cars and bringing coolers to make their own cocktails. At one point on June 11, Evenchik said, a Tesla blocked a crosswalk while a man made piña coladas with a pair of blenders hooked up to the car,” my colleague Beatrice Forman wrote.

    In no way am I condoning this behavior, but those two sentences above may be my among favorite this year. Who thinks to bring a blender — with a car hookup — to make piña coladas at an unauthorized Center City street party on a Wednesday night?

    Philly.

    Getting trashed

    Philadelphians experienced a major city workers strike this summer when Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and AFSCME District Council 33 couldn’t agree on a new contract for the union’s nearly 9,000 members.

    Residents with trash arrive at garbage dump site at Caldera Road and Red Lion Road in northeast Philadelphia during the AFSCME District Council 33 workers strike in July.

    As a result, things got weird. Dead bodies piled up at the Medical Examiner’s Office; a striking union member was arrested for allegedly slashing the tires of a PGW vehicle; and for eight days in the July heat, garbage heaped up all across Philadelphia. The city set up temporary trash drop-off sites, which often overflowed into what were nicknamed “Parker piles,” but that also set off a firestorm about whether using the sites constituted crossing a picket line.

    Wawa Welcome America July Fourth concert headliners LL Cool J and Jazmine Sullivan even pulled out of the show in support of striking workers, resulting in a fantastic “Labor Loves Cool J” meme.

    This is my favorite strike meme so far

    [image or embed]

    — Stephanie Farr (@farfarraway.bsky.social) July 7, 2025 at 9:40 AM

    It was all like something out of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In fact, the gang predicted a trash strike in the 2012 episode “The Gang Recycles Their Trash.”

    The real strike lasted eight days before a contract was reached. In true Philly form, AFSCME District Council 33 president Greg Boulware told The Inquirer “nobody’s happy.”

    A large pile of trash collects at a city drop-off site during the AFSCME workers strike this summer.

    97-year-old gives birth to 16 kids

    A local nonagenarian couple became national shellebrities this year for welcoming seven babies in April and nine more in August, proving that age ain’t nothing but a number, as long as you’re a tortoise.

    Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise Mommy, and male Abrazzo, left, are shown on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Pa. The hatchlings’ parents, female Mommy and male Abrazzo, are the Zoo’s two oldest animals, each estimated to be around 100 years old.

    Mommy and Abrazzo, Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoises who reside at the Philadelphia Zoo, made history with their two clutches, becoming the first pair of the critically endangered species in the zoo’s 150-year history to hatch eggs and the first to do so in any accredited zoo since 2019.

    Mommy is also the oldest known first-time Galapagos tortoise mom in the world, so it’s safe to say she doesn’t have any time or patience for shenanigans. She’s got 16 heroes in a half shell to raise.

    Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise egg hatchling.

    Phillies Karen

    Taking candy from a baby is one thing — babies don’t need candy anyway — but taking a baseball from a kid at a Phillies game is a deed so foul and off base it’s almost unimaginable.

    And yet, that’s exactly what happened at a Phillies-Marlins game in September, when a home run from Harrison Bader landed in the stands and a dad ran from his seat to grab it and give it to his son. A woman who was sitting near where the ball landed marched over to the dad, berated him, and demanded the ball be given her. Taken aback, the father reached into his son’s baseball glove and turned the ball over.

    The entire scene was caught on camera and the woman, with her Kate Gosselin-esque hairdo, was immediately dubbed “Phillies Karen” by flabbergasted fans.

    While the act technically happened at the Marlins stadium in Miami, Fla., it captured the minds and memes of Philadelphians so much that it deserves inclusion on this list. Phillies Karen has made her way onto T-shirts and coffee mugs, inspired skits at a Savannah Bananas game and the MLB Awards, and she even became a popular Halloween costume.

    To this day, “Phillies Karen” remains unidentified, so it’s a safe bet she lives in Florida, where she’ll have better luck with alligators than with people here.

    Institutional intrigue

    Drama at area institutions this year had Philadelphians sipping tea like we were moms on Christmas morning, and sometimes, left us shaking our fists in the air like we were dads putting up tangled lights.

    David Adelman with the Philadelphia 76ers makes a statement at a press conference in the Mayor’s Reception Room in January regarding the Sixers changing directions on the controversial Center City arena. At left is mayor Parker, at right City Council President Kenyatta Johnson and Josh Harris, Sixers owner.

    It started early in January, when the billionaire owners of the Sixers surprised the entire city by announcing the team would stay at the South Philly sports complex instead of building their own arena on Market East. The decision came after two years of seemingly using the city, its politicians, and its people as pawns in their game.

    Workers gathered outside World Cafe Live before a Town Hall meeting with management in July.

    In June, workers staged a walkout at World Cafe Live due to what they claimed was “an unacceptable level of hostility and mismanagement” from its new owners, including its then-CEO, Joseph Callahan. Callahan — who said the owners inherited $6 million in debt and that he wanted to use virtual reality to bolster its revenue — responded by firing some of the workers and threatening legal action. Today, the future of World Cafe Live remains unclear. Callahan stepped down as CEO in September (but remains chairman of the board), the venue’s liquor license expired, and its landlord, the University of Pennsylvania, wants to evict its tenant, with a trial scheduled for January.

    Signage at the east entrance to the Philadelphia Art Museum reflects the rebrand of the institution, which was formerly known as the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

    Finally, late this year at the Philadelphia Art Museum, things got more surreal than a Salvador Dalí painting, starting with an institutional rebrand that surprised some board members, didn’t land well with the public, and resulted in a lot of PhART jokes. In November, museum CEO Sasha Suda was fired following an investigation by an outside law firm that focused, in part, on increases to her salary, a source told The Inquirer. Suda’s lawyer called it a “a sham investigation” and Suda quickly sued her former employer, claiming that “her efforts to modernize the museum clashed with a small, corrupt, and unethical faction of the board intent on preserving the status quo.”

    Nobody knows where all of this will go, but it’s likely to have more drama than a Caravaggio.

  • Behind the scenes at world-renowned Martin Guitars

    Behind the scenes at world-renowned Martin Guitars

    Whenever Christian F. Martin IV hears a Martin guitar, whether it’s the timeworn piece Willie Nelson’s nearly strummed a hole through, or a customer nervously picking a D-300 that looks like fine art and costs $300,000, he beams with pride. Like a father.

    Martin is the executive chairman of C.F. Martin & Co., the sixth generation of Martins to create arguably the world’s most-renowned acoustic guitars out of Nazareth, Northampton County. Founded in New York City in 1833 by German luthier Christian Frederick Martin, the company moved to Nazareth in 1839 and has crafted 3 million guitars, all of them intertwined with the family tree.

    So when Martin took his daughter to a Post Malone concert in 2020 and watched the artist play a Martin, he smiled from afar. Later, when Malone dragged — yes, dragged — what appeared to be the same guitar across the stage, Martin’s heart dropped.

    “I’m freaking out,” Martin said. “I’m looking at my wife, and she’s looking at me like ‘I don’t know.’”

    Martin was still processing the trauma of a 145-year-old Martin guitar being smashed in the 2015 Quentin Tarantino film The Hateful Eight. So when Malone smashed the guitar onstage and poured a beer on it, Martin’s heart broke into small pieces, too.

    “I need to leave,” he told his wife.

    Luckily, before Martin could flee the concert in Hershey to process the trauma, he was told the smashed guitar was a prop, not a Martin.

    That’s how seriously Martin, and its devotees, takes guitars. On a recent fall weekday in the Nazareth headquarters, tourists were lining up before the building opened for tours, taking selfies. Inside, guitars that belonged to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hank Williams, two of thousands of artists who played Martins, sat in glass cases.

    (Later that day, Martin flew to London to give a special presentation about the Martin D-18 Cobain played during Nirvana’s famed Unplugged set in 1993.)

    “I’ve always just gravitated toward playing Martins,” said Delaware County musician Devon Gilfillian. “When I first started playing, that was just always the goal. The tone is just so perfect and warm. Plus, it’s from Pennsylvania.”

    Mike Nelson inspects a guitar frame at C.F. Martin & Co.

    Martin said guitar sales booms are usually tied to specific cultural moments or trends in popular music. Folk music in the 1960s, for example, or the popularity of MTV’s iconic Unplugged series that featured Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Alice in Chains, and countless others.

    Today, Martin is still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many workers were forced to stay home and went looking for something to do. The company is producing approximately 500 guitars per day in Nazareth and a plant in Navojoa, Mexico.

    “We’re on a bit of a roll,” Martin said.

    “I think it’s important to show people this is where a Martin guitar is made and this is what it takes to make a Martin guitar,” he said. “For many guitar players, coming to the Martin factory is like going to mecca.”

    Inside, the factory floor is divided into sections, an assembly line of sorts, with some specialists focusing on fretboards, others on the necks. Some were spraying lacquers, with ventilation masks on, while other lucky employees — musicians themselves — do sound checks, strumming chords for tone. Few guitars are rejected.

    The factory is both high and low tech, with robotic arms meticulously sanding bodies while workers use ancient woodworking tools to shape some parts.

    That level of specialization, Martin said, makes Martin’s craftsmen the best in the business.

    “You’ll see what it takes,” he said. “You’ll see why we’re the best.”

    Most Martin guitars are made with various timbers, including a slew of different spruces, along with rarer mahogany and rosewood.

    All businesses change, subject to the whims of markets and greater global issues. While the overall design of a guitar hasn’t changed all that much over the centuries, newer and different materials may be in the pipeline, due to issues with climate change and deforestation. The tropical hardwoods grow slowly and are under threat.

    Temperate hardwoods like maple and walnut are more abundant, and the company is exploring them, Martin said. The use of alternate materials might be possible, but they would all fall under the same standard: the guitar would need to sound like a Martin.

    “We would not use a material that doesn’t work,” he said.

    Martin has committed to reforestation projects in Costa Rica and the Republic of the Congo. Martin’s sustainable Biosphere III, with a polar bear design by company artist Robert Goetzl, benefits Polar Bears International and retails for $2,399.

    Gregory Jasman strings a guitar. The list of musicians who play Martins could fill a music hall of fame.

    Goetzl has been responsible for most of Martin’s “playable art,” and he cherishes the idea that his art will make art.

    “It is art, and it could be hung on a wall, but that would kind of be a shame,” he said on the factory floor, holding a guitar featuring owls and the northern lights. “It’s not cheap. It’s a very real instrument with a beautiful design.”

    On this weekday, a buyer had come to Martin to possibly purchase a guitar worth more than a quarter-million dollars.

    The list of musicians who play Martin is endless, enough to fill a music hall of fame — Nelson and his famous “Trigger,” Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Ed Sheeran, Joni Mitchell, and so many others.

    Thomas Ripsam, president and CEO, at the C.F. Martin assembly line.

    “We are very intentional about who we want to work with,” said Thomas Ripsam, who assumed the role of CEO in 2021. ”We don’t really pay artists for playing our guitars, so we are looking for artists who have a sincere connection.”

    One of them is Billy Strings, a popular, Nashville-based guitarist who combines bluegrass, rock, and even metal.

    “When you think of the word guitar, I think of a Martin D-28,” Strings said in a promotional video for guitars that the company designed for him. “It’s so American. It’s like baseball or something.”

    An A-frame guitar adorns the museum entrance Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at C. F. Martin & Co. Inc. in Nazareth, Pa.