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Friends of the Rail Park Announces Final Fridays Monthly Event Series

The free event series will bring live music and activities to the Rail Park on Friday evenings throughout the Summer. 

PHILADELPHIA — 

Friends of the Rail Park has announced their Final Fridays event series, taking place every last Friday of the month from May to September. The Final Fridays event series will bring local artists and organizations together for evenings at the Rail Park, featuring live music, hands-on activities, movie screenings, and more! All events will be free, family-friendly, and open to the public. 

The first event in the series will take place on May 27 from 6 PM to 8 PM at the Rail Park, featuring poetry readings by People’s Paper Co-op Fellows and a cello performance by Aijee Evans. Attendees of Final Fridays events will also receive special discounted offerings from local restaurants and bars. 

People’s Paper Co-op will also be previewing their upcoming art installation, Liberation Journeys, which highlights the impact of the criminal justice system on women in Philadelphia, and celebrates their individual and collective journeys towards freedom. The completed multimedia installation will premiere at the Rail Park in June.

“Every spring, we see the Rail Park fill up with new plant life, people, and all kinds of activity,” said Rebecca Cordes Chan, Executive Director.  “We’re excited to bring Philadelphians of all ages together outdoors to experience arts, culture, and community connection through activities facilitated by local organizations and artists through the summer for the Final Fridays series”.

The lineup for each Final Friday event will be announced at the beginning of the month. Attendees can learn more about the event series and register in advance for the May 27th event by visiting the Rail Park website. 

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Friends of the Rail Park 

Founded in 2010 after years of advocacy by a committed group of community members, Friends of the Rail Park (FRP) is the non-profit organization that drives the vision behind the transformation of historic rail lines that traverse Philadelphia into the Rail Park. FRP’s mission is to build bold, transformative, and inclusive public space that connects Philadelphia’s residents and visitors to the city and each other. Working in close partnership with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, FRP is part of a growing international movement of infrastructure reuse projects, supporting community development and transforming cities in the process.

 

The Rail Park is a vision for a three-mile linear park and multi-use pathway connecting 10 distinct Philadelphia neighborhoods and 50+ city blocks along the site of former historic Reading and Pennsylvania Railroad lines. The above and below grade site offers an opportunity to create a world class public space driven by collaborating with communities from every corner of the city, building from existing cultural assets, promoting health and wellness, and advancing equitable access to the investment in this large-scale public works project, positioning the park as an integral part of comprehensive community development in Philadelphia.

Open to the public since June 2018, Phase One of the Rail Park is a $13 million project transforming a quarter-mile section of the former Reading Railroad—which reaches from Broad and Noble streets up onto the elevated 1100 block of Callowhill Street in Philadelphia. Serving as a stunning “proof of concept,” Phase One is a welcoming community greenspace, with pathways, low-maintenance perennial plantings, trees, seating, bench-style swings, local art, and elevated city views. The design preserves and restores much of the historic steel viaduct structure, while introducing materials of a similar industrial scale and character.

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