John Fischer's Philadelphia
Vol. 1 - Number 17 - 07/05/99
Can you say sauna?
As anyone who knows me will tell you, I get cold very easily. In fact, I am known for wearing my thermals from September through May. This does not mean, however, that I would ever voluntarily go into a sauna. That has no attraction for me either, but that's exactly what I did all weekend.
You see, when the temperature gets to about 95 degrees and the heat index approaches 105 degrees, you're talking sauna and that's what happened here in Philly for the long Fourth of July holiday weekend.
The Sunoco Welcome America! celebration ended today with a huge parade and fireworks on the Parkway. I was able to attend a number of the events. It's really a shame that the weather was so oppressive for the weekend. It really did seem to affect attendance at several of the events.
Friday night was the big Caesar´s Two Cities Two States Concert & Exelon Energy Fireworks Spectacular at Penn's Landing. The concert itself featured a group called Business which I enjoyed a lot. The headline act was Philadelphia's own G. Love and Special Sauce.
photo by John Fischer
The evening was actually helped by some intermittent showers which stopped just in time for the super fireworks display. Many said it was the best they have ever seen. There were points where you could swear that the fireworks were exploding right in your face.
We had parked at a parking lot on Delaware Avenue at the foot of South Street. While there were hundreds of Philadelphia Police officers all over Penn's Landing, there were none assisting traffic exiting the lot onto Delaware Avenue. After about 10 minutes of moving nowhere, we gave up and took a walk on South Street until the traffic eased.
South Street is one of my favorite places in Philly, especially at night when the sidewalks are filled with all sorts of interesting people and the bars and clubs are open. If you've never been to South Street at night, you should do it sometime.
Saturday we attended the Fort Mifflin Freedom Blast at Fort Mifflin on the Delaware. Fort Mifflin is located just north of the airport and in fact planes landing fly almost directly overhead with a few hundred feet.
I have to admit that I have never been to Fort Mifflin before. It has been in the process of restoration for a number of years and that work continues to the present time. Fort Mifflin is the site of a week-long battle in 1777 where the American troops held the British at bay. Although the fort finally fell to the British, the delay cost the British their chance to occupy Philadelphia and, perhaps, win the war.
photo by John Fischer
We'll be doing a detailed article on Fort Mifflin in the future.
The highlight of the afternoon was at 3:00 p.m. when a reenactment of the battle occurred. I give all the credit to those folks who do historical interpretation at the parks in the area. Dressed in colonial clothing, mostly of wool, these folks maintained their composure and remained polite, friendly and informative despite the oppressive heat.
Sunday I attended the ceremonies at Independence Hall in which Kim Dae-jung, President of the Republic of Korea, was presented with the Philadelphia Liberty Medal. Kim's life is an amazing story of heroism against constant efforts by others to oppose him. He has been arrested, condemned to death, faced assassination attempts and then finally, in his 70's elected President of the Republic of Korea.
photo by John Fischer
I urge you to read our feature on the Philadelphia Liberty Medal to learn more about this amazing man.
The weekend was a lot of fun, very educational, and in some ways bitter-sweet. At the end of September, the Great Plaza at Penn's Landing will close and construction will begin on a new Family Entertainment Center which will stretch from Market Street to Walnut Street
The new Entertainment Center promises to be an exciting focus of activity on the waterfront, while still preserving public access to the waterfront itself. I have also been assured that a new, and improved amphitheater will be constructed at the new facility. In fact, current plans are to have one on the roof in a garden setting and another on the south side of the building at street level.
You can check out the plans for the new Family Entertainment Center at the Penn's Landing website.
Construction will take up most of the next two years, although there is some hope that it will be completed by the summer of 2001. Next summer will be a rough one for those of us that enjoy the weekend activities at Penn's Landing. Efforts will be made to continue as many of the events and festivals as possible, although they will be relocated to other places, many to a pier further north on Delaware Avenue, near Spring Garden Street.
Well, that was my holiday. I hope yours was great! Let me hear from you.You can join me in our chat room almost every evening - Philly Chat - or drop me a note at philadelphia.guide@about.com. Also, be sure to check out our new Philadelphia Forum where you can share your comments and feelings, ask questions, post classifieds and much more.
If you missed any of our recent columns you can still catch them:
John Fischer's
Philadelphia 06/18/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 06/21/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 06/23/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 06/25/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 06/28/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 06/30/99