After taking a two-year break due to the pandemic, a popular live music event, Cedar Park Jazz Fridays, is set to return this week. The annual series, presented by Cedar Park Neighbors, features free outdoor performances by the area’s finest jazz musicians and bands at the park located at 49th and Baltimore. The 2022 series kicks off June 3 at 6 p.m. with a performance by The Dirk Quinn Band.

Here’s the schedule through July 22:

June 3: The Dirk Quinn Band
June 24: The Philadelphia Clef Club Ensemble
July 8: Bobby Zankel and The Wonderful Warriors of Sound
July 22: Nasir Ebo and Friends

All shows are held from 6 to 8 p.m. in fair weather.

The series is sponsored by local businesses and individual donations from neighborhood residents.

Photo courtesy of West Philly Porchfest

Two popular outdoor music festivals are set to return next month – West Philly Porchfest and Make Music Philly – and the organizers are currently looking for participants.

West Philly Porchfest will be held on Saturday, June 4, from 12-6 p.m. The DYI festival features musicians who perform in all music genres, presenting free shows on porches all around the neighborhood. The festival has grown over the years – last year over 125 porches hosted Porchfest performances. Porch sign-up for this year’s fest is currently open. If you live in West Philly and would like to host a show on your porch, please go to this page and fill out a registration form. Continue Reading

West Craft Fest’s Spring edition will be held this Saturday, April 30, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the beautiful Woodlands. This popular outdoor event is now bigger than ever: more than 130 local artists and crafts people will showcase their handmade, unique art pieces and wares. More than 70 percent of these talented makers are based in West Philly! The event will also include live music, food trucks, and the crowd favorites, Tangle Movement Arts, will present their aerial performances.

Like last September, the Fest layout will be extended, stretching along Woodland Avenue on both sides of the main entrance. Food trucks will be on the East end of the action, and the stage area on the West, with all of the makers’ booths in between (see the map below). Continue Reading

Theatre in the X is returning to Malcolm X Park after a year hiatus and will present three evenings of a new production, The West Philly Meeting. The new play by the innovative Black theater troupe was created with the West Philly community in mind and is based on the community input.

The process began in early 2020 with in-person West Philly community meetings that helped devise the new theatre piece. Two significant and tragic historic events are the basis for the new play – the 1985 MOVE bombing and summer 2020 protests and teargassing of protesters by the police on 52nd street, according to an article by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The new piece, written by Dwayne Alistair Thomas and directed by Katrina Snobe, brings the characters and the audience together to find “the solution to heal what ails them.” Continue Reading

Scribe Video Center is bringing back its free outdoor screening series Street Movies! this month. The series is returning for its 24th season with nine screenings scheduled across Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Screenings will be held in West Kensington, West Philly, West Oak Lane, Lawnside, Southwest Philly, Hawthorne, North Philly, and South Philly. Live performances start at 8:00 p.m., followed by a presentation of short films at 8:30 p.m. Performers include Sonic Liberation Front, Instituto de Puertorriqueño Música, Max Swan, SNACKTIME Philly, Bethlehem and Sad Patrick, Monnette Sudler, and Alfie Pollitt. Continue Reading

The University City District’s free outdoor movie screening series is returning this Friday (Aug. 6) to Clark Park. The series will kick off with a screening of “Black Panther” at Clark Park’s “Bowl” near 45th and Chester. The opening night will also feature a free COVID vaccine clinic presented by Penn Medicine.

The vaccine clinic will be held from 6-8 p.m.. Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be available for residents ages 12 and older, and the first 60 people who receive their doses will receive a $25 gift card to Renata’s Kitchen or Booker’s. Registration is not required, but is encouraged (please text “READY” to 267.263.7297). Continue Reading