Are you ready, Philly? Two major events are taking place this month, adding the cherry on top to an already exciting line up of events. First—the Wawa Welcome America! 4�� of July Celebrations. The annual week-long schedule of events can be found here http://www.welcomeamerica.com/calendar-of-events/, and include free museum entries, outdoor movie screenings, the return of Wawa Hoagie Day!, concert events at Penn’s Landing, block parties, parades and the infamous Wawa Welcome America! July 4�� Concert and Fireworks show! This year’s lineup features Tony Award® Winning Leslie Odom, Jr. from Broadway’s Hamilton and Yazz the Greatest (Bryshere Gray) from TV’s smash hit Empire. Wawa Welcome America! 4th of July Fireworks Photo via: G. Widman We hope to see you and your family on the Parkway to celebrate Independence Day with the sounds of Philadelphia! Second—the 2016 Democratic National Convention. From July 25 to July 28, Philadelphia will proudly be hosting the DNC, the formal nominating event for the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President. Most events will be taking place at the Wells Fargo Center, however PHLDNC listed #DNCDeals and DNC events on their site here http://www.phldnc.com/. Those events include Philly Feast, a food truck festival set to kick off Convention Week. The festival, which will include locally-based food trucks and live music will take play Monday, July 25��, 11am-3pm at 3�� and Arch Street. For City Service Updates & Changes visit: https://alpha.phila.gov/events/democratic-national- convention/. Don’t forget to check our complete list of upcoming July events, which include Philadelphia hosts the Democratic National Jazz in the Park, Bastille Day Convention, July 25-28. celebrations, and many more music and art festivals. Happy #OSESummer16! Inside of OSE: What it Means By: Olivia Gillison Life in the Office of Special Events is always changing. Many of our days are spent in and out of the office going to all types of meetings. Between the Welcome America celebrations, the Democratic National Convention, Made in America Festival and all of our other 1,397+ events, it is quite busy. The summer time is the height of event season and it's all hands on deck to make sure everything is completed. Several of our day to day responsibilities involve making sure that questions are being answered. Those questions may come in from city council staff, other operating departments, constituents and residents or even out of town event production companies. Many of these people send us emails or call to have their questions resolved. We do our best to provide you with the proper answers and make sure that you’re headed in the right direction. To assist in getting the information out, we also run several online social media accounts and a robust website with information being updated almost daily, especially when it comes to the road closures associated with events. If your event needs any type of city service (staging, sound systems, street cleaning, police services, fire/ems services, barricading, etc) you have to fill out our offices’ City of Philadelphia Special Event Application. This will ensure that all services requested are run through our departmental taskforce meeting and proper cost estimates will be given for the services requested. There’s no other department in the city that facilitates these requests for any event within the city. Permits for any type of demonstration, protest, march/rally, runs, parades or walks are all isssued out of our office. Each day you never know what exactly you’re walking into because no day is ever really the same. Is it challenging? Of course, but that’s what makes our office and the work we do so unique and exciting. No matter what the question is, no matter what the request is, we will work with you behind the scenes and do everything that we can in order to make sure your event goes off without a hitch. The final result of all this, more than 1400 different events a year all helping to make your vision a reality, and the amazing feedback we receive is what makes our line of work so rewarding. Keep dreaming big Philly! We're always here to help make the hard decisions and help make those dreams a reality. #OSESummer16 #PHLEvents #TeamOSE As Seen in the Streets To the left are just a few of the biggest events in Philly in June. Our header displays Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, one of the many amazing performances seen at the Philly Pride Day Parade this year. Beneath that we have a scene from the annual Odunde Festival, the largest African- Photo by: M. Sabb American street festival in the country. Below that, racers speed past during the Philadelphia International Cycling Classic. Lastly, the Manayunk Arts Festival, which featured tons of local artisty including this sunflower made completely from zipers and buttons. The Long & Short of June As the official start of the Summer season, June has given us a fair share of some amazing outdoor events. Night Market returned this month, filling Photo by: J. Rivera the streets of the Callowhill neighborhood with other 50 locally owned food trucks and entertainment. The Sixers Draft Party took over Eakins Oval, as fans cheered on their team and enjoyed giveaways, Sixers Dance Team performances and much more. Soccer fans from all over took over the Linc as Photo by: N. Faragalli Copa America Centenario took place in North America for the first time in 100 years! July 1�� – 7�� July 8�� – 14�� Independence Day Regatta – Kelly Drive (7/1-7/3) World Refugee Day Celebration – City Hall Courtyard (7/9) Family Fun Day Jazz Concert – Tustin Recreation Center (7/1) FREE Museum Day! African American Museum in July 15�� – 21�� Philadelphia – 701 Arch St (7/1) Kidchella 2016 – Smith Memorial Playground (7/15) Go 4th & Learn about Fitness – Smith Memorial Playground American Podiatric Medical Association 5K Convention (7/1) Run/Walk – Kelly Drive (7/16) Friday Night Jazz in Cedar Park – 49th & Baltimore Ave (7/1) Family Triathlon – Memorial Hall 43 S Concourse St (7/16) (7/8) (7/15) (7/22) (7/29) Fairmount Bastille Day Festival – Eastern State Penitentary Philadelphia Orchestra Neighborhood Concert & Fireworks– on Fairmount Ave (7/16) Penn's Landing (7/1) Influencing Action Movement (IAM) Community Festival – FREE Museum Day! National Constitution Center – 525 Arch 900 E. Mt Pleasant Ave (7/16) St (7/2) Lancaster Avenue Jazz & Arts Festival – Saunders Park (7/16) Olney Youth Arts Festival – Fisher Park Rec Center (7/2) West Phila. Jazz Heritage Series – Malcolm X Park (7/21) US Army Band, "Pershing's Own" Concert & Fireworks – Penn's Landing (7/2) July 22ⁿ� – 31�� FREE Museum Day! The Barnes Foundation – 2025 Benjamin Liberia Flag Raising Ceremony – City Hall North Apron (7/22) Franklin Parkway (7/3) Peru Flag Raising Ceremony – City Hall North Apron (7/22) Historic Philadelphia Block Party – Independence Mall (7/3) Philadelphia Youth Regatta – Kelly Drive (7/23) POPS on Independence – Independence Mall (7/3) HoodStock Festival – Life Do Grow, 2315 N 11th St (7/23) Independence Day – (7/4) Joan Bradley Memorial Service – Pastorius Park (7/23) FREE Museum Day! The National Museum of American North Phila. Day of Service & Press Conference – Life Do Jewish History – 101 S Independence Mall (7/4) Grow, 2315 N 11th St (7/24) Celebration of Freedom Ceremony – Independence Hall (7/4) March for a Clean Energy Revolution – Start: City Hall End: Independence Day Parade – Route throughout Historic Independence Mall (7/24) Philadelphia (7/4) Democratic National Convention – (7/25-7/28) Party on the Parkway – Ben Franklin Parkway from 21st St. Philly Feast (DNC Event) – 300 Arch St (7/25) To Eakins Oval (7/4) Boricuas Unidos Para Puerto Rico – Thomas Paine Plaza Wawa Welcome America! 4th of July Concert – Ben Franklin (7/25) Parkway from 21st St. To Art Museum Steps (7/4) Mighty Writers – Philadelphia Museum of Art (7/26) Wawa Welcome America! 4th of July Fireworks – Ben Shakespeare in Clark Park – 4398 Chester Ave (7/27-7/31) Franklin Parkway from 21st St. To Art Museum Steps (7/4) Jazz on the Ave. – Broad and Cecil B. Moore Ave (7/30) Venezuelan Flag Raising – City Hall North Apron (7/5) Haircuts for Hope– Thomas Paine Plaza (7/31) West Phila. Jazz Heritage Series – Malcolm X Park (7/7) For a full detailed list of events, please visit the Calendar on our website! Special Fact of the Month: It has been 80 years since the last Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia. It was 1936 was President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated via acclamation for a 2ⁿ� www.phlevents.org term..