UPDATE (9/5/2018): As was expected, there will be early dismissal at public schools also on Thursday, Sept. 6 due to continued heat. All School District of Philadelphia schools will dismiss students at noon, and all after-school activities including all athletic programs and professional development sessions scheduled for Thursday are canceled. 

All School District of Philadelphia schools will dismiss students at noon Wednesday, Sept. 5 due to continued high temperatures, the district has announced. All after-school activities including all athletic programs and professional development sessions scheduled for Wednesday are canceled.

The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective will present J.M. Barrie’s Mary Rose at The Woodlands as part of the 2018 Fringe Festival. (Photo by Ashley Smith)

September is here, which means it’s time to celebrate art and artists at the annual Fringe Festival. This year’s program kicks off Thursday, Sept. 6 and features more than 100 dance, theater, spoken word and visual art shows by local, national and international artists at venues around the city.

Many festival events and shows will be held in West Philly – at The Rotunda, The Woodlands, Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center, Art Church of West Philadelphia, Black Box Theater, and other venues.

Beginning this Wednesday, the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective will present Mary Rose, a play by J.M. Barrie (the author of Peter Pan) at the Woodlands Cemetery and Mansion (40th and Woodland). The historic cemetery is a perfect setting for the play, originally published shortly after World War I, that reckons with loss, love, and immortality. The performance takes place inside the mansion and outside on the grounds (in the event of rain the entire performance will be inside the mansion). Shows begin at 7 p.m. and will run through Sept. 22. More information and tickets are available here.  Continue Reading

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Neighborhood-to-Neighborhood (N2N) festival, which has brought stars like Macey Gray, Common, Morris Day and more to West Philadelphia, will return this Saturday (Sept. 8) with a free tribute concert to Aretha Franklin.

The annual outdoor community event will be held from noon until 8 p.m. at 50th and Baltimore and will feature recording artists Kathy Sledge, Monica, Kelly Price, Keke Wyatt, Jean Carne (one of Aretha’s “great girlfriends”) and Kindred the Family Soul. They will each perform hits of their own and cover some of Aretha’s to celebrate and honor the Queen of Soul.

Radio personality Patty Jackson and comedian Skeet will cohost the festival, and TV’s latest “Survivor” winner, Wendell Holland II, will make a guest appearance.  Continue Reading

UPDATE: As temperatures are forecasted to be above 90 degrees for the fourth day in a row, all School District of Philadelphia schools will dismiss students at 1 p.m. again on Thursday, Aug. 30.

Philadelphia public school will dismiss students at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 28 and Wednesday, Aug. 29 due to the high temperatures forecasted for these days, according to the School District announcement on Monday afternoon. All after-school activities, including all athletic programs and professional development sessions scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday are canceled.

School-based employees are expected to work their normal work day and Administrative Offices will operate on regular business hours.

You may have noticed new street signs popping up outside of businesses in and around Cedar Park in the past few months. So here’s the scoop. The signs are part of a project, “Humble Beginnings,” sponsored by the National Street Service, according to the project coordinator and West Philly resident Brian Cirksey.

Three signs have been posted along Baltimore Ave from 47th to 50th so far, by Vientiane Cafe, Talking Heads hair salon, and Satellite Cafe. These businesses were able to tell their unique stories of how they began (humble beginnings), via in-person visits, phone calls, and emails, and this information was translated into these historical marker signs.  Continue Reading

The Woodlands has started an online petition asking for community support for a crosswalk from the 40th Street trolley portal to the cemetery gates across Woodland Avenue.

The upcoming opening of the Trolley Portal Gardens has renewed interest in figuring out a way to make crossing Woodland Avenue safer for pedestrians. The Woodlands estimates that some 45,000 people visited the grounds last year, including about 4,000 in one day during the Go West! Craft Fest (see tweet and video below), many coming on foot across Woodland Avenue.  Continue Reading