Early tastes of July 4th fun

By Robert Strauss
for the Philadelphia Inquirer

Welcome America! begins with food, music.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, June 24, 2011 - Few can accuse Philadelphia of failing to throw a party, and the big one this year, Welcome America!, is well deserving of that exclamation point at the end.

Sponsored by Wawa, Welcome America! has all sorts of Philadelphia-centric events - from the Roots playing on the Fourth of July to local foods to films screened all across the city.

It starts more than a full week before Independence Day with this weekend's three-day fiesta of food and music from the Chestnut Street Bridge over Columbus Boulevard to Penn's Landing.

Taste of Philadelphia - referring both to the music and the food - is from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday with more than two dozen food trucks and stands representing restaurants from Auntie Anne's Pretzels to the Jamaican Jerk Hut. "Taste" will continue from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Music headliners are local jazz bassist Gerald Veasley and the Philadelphia Freedom Jazz Orchestra on Friday night; New Orleans R&B legend Aaron Neville at 8 p.m. Saturday, before a fireworks show along the Delaware River; and gospel veterans James "JJ" Hairston and Youthful Praise at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Each year, Welcome America! offers "Go 4th and Learn," with youth reading and educational demonstrations part of the holiday week. Monday is Go 4th and Learn About History, at Franklin Square, with WXPN kid-radio host Kathy O'Connell and readings by such folks as Mayor Nutter and 6ABC's Tamala Edwards from 10 a.m. to noon. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wawa will host a dairy fair, with such activities as lessons in cow milking and arts and crafts about farming.

Tuesday's version of Go 4th will be about performance art at the Dell Music Center, with storytelling, Latin music, and African dance from 10 a.m to noon. On July 2, Go 4th will have a science bent at the Franklin Institute, explaining the science of fireworks, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Philly @ the Movies will dot big screens all around the city. On Monday at 9 p.m., the Piazza at Schmidts will have Best in Show, the spoof of dog shows set in Philadelphia. On Tuesday, at the Pearl Theater, there will be a sneak preview of the latest Transformers movie, Dark of the Moon, at 7 p.m., and at 9 at the Dell Music Center, the film is the 2009 remake of Fame.

On Wednesday, after the 5:30 p.m. participatory "World's Longest Dance Line" at the Art Museum, there will be a showing of Rocky at 9, appropriately by the steps the fictional boxer made famous. Thursday's offering is The Devil Wears Prada at 9 p.m. at Rittenhouse Square.

On Wednesday, from noon to 2 p.m., come munch with Nutter on the largest hoagie around - a 41/2-ton behemoth served up for Wawa Hoagie Day on the Independence Visitor Center lawn near Sixth and Market Streets. The Philadelphia police and fire departments will have a hoagie-building contest and there will be a station set up by the USO to send letters to service members overseas.

To cap off the first week of Welcome America! Wawa will sponsor a picnic area (BYO lunch) on Independence Mall while visitors watch the change of command of the area's military officers. More than 300 officers will march and either relinquish or accept their command positions. This event is Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sixth and Market Streets.

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If You Go

Wawa Welcome America! is scheduled through July 4 at various locations around Philadelphia. Go to www.welcomeamerica.com for a list of events. Information: 215-545-4715.

Welcome America! culminates next weekend, including a parade in the morning and fireworks and a gala concert starring the Roots and Earth, Wind and Fire on the evening of July 4. See next week's Weekend section for that schedule.

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For a listing of fireworks and Independence Day events, go to www.philly.com/fireworks.

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