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One of the biggest local events of the year, the Lancaster Avenue Jazz & Arts Festival, will return on Saturday, July 15 from noon to 7 p.m. to Saunders Park Greene at 39th and Powelton. The 11th edition of the festival, which has grown from a few hundred attendees to more than 3,000, will feature the “New Wave of Jazz.” Philadelphia saxophonist Jaleel Shaw will be headlining the event.

This year, the FREE festival offers a family-friendly event showcasing the best of Philadelphia: a mix of up and coming young artists who are shaping the future of jazz, a diverse gathering of people, a view of the city and a chance to enjoy a neighborhood that is rich in arts and culture.

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

West Philly residents have an opportunity to learn more about solar power for their homes at an upcoming Cedar Park Neighbors meeting at the Calvary Center (48th and Baltimore). The meeting will be held on Monday, July 17 from 7 – 8 p.m.

In an effort to make solar power more affordable for all Philadelphians and to provide solar installation training at the School District, a special city-run program, Solarize Philly, has been recently created as part of the Philadelphia Energy Authority. Representatives from Solarize Philly will be at the meeting to explain how the program works and to answer questions.

The program has already been picking up steam in the city, including in West Philadelphia.  Continue Reading

Community members are invited to celebrate the 52nd Street corridor’s historic legacy and to support Black owned and operated businesses at the Marketplace “Seeds of Sovereignty” Festival. The festival will be held on Sunday, June 25, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. (the event has been rescheduled due to rain in the forecast for Saturday), between Walnut and Spruce Streets and will feature vendors, a children’s village, performances, food, fashion shows, and workshops.

One of the goals of the festival, organized in collaboration with the African Cultural Art Forum (ACAF), Philadelphia Assembled Collaborative, Philadelphia Association of CDC’s and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is to set the stage for collaborations that will promote a sovereign society and to engage sustainable economic development opportunities in West Philadelphia and around the world.  Continue Reading

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As part of Philadelphia2035, a comprehensive development plan that will help create a more livable, healthy and economically viable city in the future, West Philadelphia residents are invited to the first public meeting for the West District Plan. The meeting will take place this Thursday, June 8, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at West Philadelphia High School (4901 Chestnut St.).

This is an opportunity for West Philadelphia residents to discuss what projects, policies and changes can be made today in the area. Philadelphia2035 makes recommendations for actions that the Mayor, City Council, government agencies and community partners can take to invest in neighborhoods and make the city more economically competitive.

The first component of the plan, the Citywide Vision, was introduced in 2011. There are also geographically specific recommendations, District Plans, that are being prepared for every section of Philadelphia. Some West Philly Local readers may remember a series of articles on the University Southwest District Plan meetings that took place in 2013. The majority of the District Plans have already been completed (see map), and now it’s turn for the West District Plan to be drawn with participation of community members.  Continue Reading

                      Photos by Rana Fayez

It’s Saturday morning and the weather’s beautiful so you have your windows open. You’re rolling out of bed and you hear music coming in from the streets. It’s a lazy morning but you walk outside anyway because the weather’s perfect. You notice scattered clusters of crowds listening to music around a porch here and a porch there. A man comes out of his house with a pastry and a coffee, he’s sitting on his porch while enjoying a live band playing on his neighbor’s porch. It’s that time of year again, it’s West Philly Porchfest. Even though the official start time was at noon, some started warming up before.  Continue Reading

Photo by Sasha Aleiner

Last year, West Philly witnessed its very first Porchfest, a concept that was introduced into the neighborhood by musicians Owen Lyman-Schmidt and Ross Hoffman (Liana Moskowitz, Abram Taber and Bobby Szafranski also helped organize last year’s festival). This year, Lyman-Schmidt and Hoffman are joined by new organizers, and West Philly Porchfest (WPPF) is back for year two.

New organizers include Carmen Greenwood, Morgan Melissa Robinson, and Ciara Chaly.

“I think it was a really wonderful sort of proof of concept that we could bring this to West Philly and it was embraced so quickly within the first year. I wouldn’t want to say that we were surprised at the turnout, but it was certainly validating to have seen it somewhere else and think this could work in our community and then have folks agree with us,” said co-organizer Lyman-Schmidt.  Continue Reading