This year’s free Lancaster Avenue Jazz & Arts Festival offers a family-friendly Jazz showcase featuring the “Hometown Sound of Philadelphia Jazz.” Philadelphia Tenor saxophonists Bootsie Barnes and Sam Reed will headline the 2019 Festival on Saturday, July 20. The event takes place starting at noon in Penn Presbyterian Medical Center’s Saunders Park Greene, 39th and Powelton Avenue.

Hosted by People’s Emergency Center (PEC) and PEC Community Development Corporation (PECCDC), this marks the 13th year that this annual event has taken place, which has grown from a few hundred attendees to 4,000.

The Producer’s Guild of Philadelphia has curated an exceptional lineup of jazz musicians performing on the Lancaster Avenue Jazz & Arts Festival stage. In addition to Barnes and Reed, this year’s lineup includes jazz performers Jamal Jones & the Bureau of Sonic Wonderland Jazz Orchestra, Glenn Bryan & Friends, Geraldine Oliver, Chris Oatts, and Jonathan Michel. The Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble will also be back by popular demand. 

Artisans and vendors along with a variety of specialty food trucks will also be on site. Activities include art, moon bounce, face painting, community resources, and a pop-up computer lab. Free parking is available one block away at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center’s lot at Powelton Avenue and State Street.

“The communities surrounding Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia are rich in cultural and artistic assets, and energetic volunteer organizers,” said PEC and PECCDC President Kathy Desmond. “The festival attracts thousands of neighbors, families, and jazz enthusiasts for a celebration of community strengths, relationships, and music.”

The Festival Committee will recognize community members on the event stage. PEC and PECCDC will present Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell with the Shining Star Tradition of Excellence award for her service to West Philadelphia and families and youth experiencing homelessness. The Producer’s Guild of Philadelphia will also grant Lifetime Achievement awards to some musicians.

West Philly jazz music students will collaborate with the Camden Youth Marching Brass Band to kick-off the festival with a parade starting at Lancaster Avenue and 38th Street. The proposed route will be up Lancaster Ave (west) to 40th Street and loop back around to Saunders Park Greene.

For more information about the festival, go to www.lancasteravejazzfest.com and facebook.com/lancavejazzfest.