Home Page Youth/School Participation Revival Efforts Scholarships
History
The Pennypack Park Festival was the creation of
Edward Kelly and Louis
Farinella and other civic minded citizens of Northeast Philadelphia. Mr.
Kelly was instrumental in building the existing bandshell in the 1970s in
Pennypack Park near the intersection of Rhawn Street and Cresco Avenue.
The festival was essentially a free and open to the public weekly evening
musical event running from late Spring to the end of August. It featured
such
performers as the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and
various local string bands.
The shows regularly attracted crowds
(8-12,000)
in the thousands. The festival was, from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,
a
huge success. It became a cultural institution in Northeast Philadelphia.
However, the festival originators did not plan for continuity of the festival
organization once they were no longer able to handle the administrative and
logistical tasks of running the festival every year.
Thus, in the early
1990s,
the festival became dormant and virtually ceased to exist.
REVIVAL EFFORTS
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In 2000, a new group of civic and business
leaders of Northeast
Philadelphia was
formed with plans to revive the festival. The original non-profit
corporation (P.P.F., Inc.)
remained in good standing with the Corporate Bureau in Harrisburg and has
maintained
its Section 501 (c) (3) non-profit status with the I.R.S. In 2001, the
corporation was
officially renamed the Pennypack Park Festival. The current nine
board members are: Dr. Ruth K. Horwitz, Esq., Norman
Jadczak,
Edward Kelly, Glenn McCurdy, Steve Hartzell, Liz Harbison, Jerry ,
Glenn Devitt, and Jerry Lathrop.
The City of Philadelphia completely
restored the band shell in the
Spring of 2001.
With an extremely limited budget and some tremendous assistance from the
City, the
festival was able to put on three shows during the Summer of 2001. Those
shows
featured Jazz, Latin, and Big Band music. On September 6, 2001, the
festival
held its
25th anniversary and gala rededication, during which proclamations from the
Philadelphia City Counsel and Pennsylvania Senate were read and presented.
In 2002, the Festival offered a two show preseason "Youth
Festival":
featuring
performances from student ensembles from Father Judge, Northeast, Archbishop
Ryan,
Lincoln, Frankford, and St. Hubert's high schools; and a seven show season
featuring big
band, contemporary pop, folk rock, doo wop, Irish, string band, and classic
pop music.
The performers included: Craig Raymond's Next Generation, Frankie and the
Fashions,
the Mojo Kings, Silvertide, K-floor, 4 Way Street, Griffin House, Black 47,
Blarney, the
Greater Kensington String Band, the Sounds of Liberty, the MODeration, and
Beatlemania Now. One significant 'message' show was also including with
the
Sounds
of Liberty; the most powerful anti-drug program (Heads-Up) in the area,
designed and
presented by the men and women of the Philadelphia Narcotics Unit.
YOUTH/SCHOOLS PARTICIPATION
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Central to the Festival's mission to promote and develop the
musical and
other
performing arts is a historic commitment to youth participation. Board
President Ed
Kelly took a delegation from the Festival to meet with new School District
CEO Paul
Vallas and Dr. Dennis Creedom, who heads the Office of Arts Education. The
district has
agreed to partner with us in this effort. Area high school students will be
encouraged to
participate on at least three levels: First, each and every event will
feature at least one act
performed by young, aspiring, artists under the age of eighteen. Usually
this will be the
opening act for each show. In addition, we plan to schedule at least two
events in late
May devoted entirely to showcasing the excellent talent being developed in
our area high
school programs. Second, the Festival hopes tol offer internships in
technical and
administrative areas such as: stage management, sound and lighting equipment
management, promotion and festival administration, etc. Third, the
Festival
will
encourage student participation as community service volunteers for general
event duties
such as: set-up, clean-up, and pedestrian traffic assistance.
SCHOLARSHIPS.
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For 2003 we have created a scholarship fund for area
youth hose talent
in the
performing arts deserves to be recognized and developed. If our
fundraising
permits, the
scholarship fund will endow six $500.00 scholarships to be given to one
student from
each of the schools participating in the Pre-Season Youth Festival.
ADVERTISING:
David McCarron, the public affairs manager at ClearChannel
outdoor
has agreed to feature the Festival schedule at key exposure sites from May
through
August during the coming season as a public service. This will give the
Festival and its
sponsors millions of 'hits' and a high profile throughout the Northeast.
COMCAST has
also included the Festival on local cable as part of its 'newsmakers'
programming. The
local print media plus several radio stations, including Oldies 98, have also
pledged their
continued support.
FUNDRAISING Outline:
Currently the Festival is seeking grant
funding from public and
private foundations,
government sources and the private sector. It is estimated that it will
take
$45,000.00 to
run the Festival for one full season (10 shows). The additional amounts
raised will
finance the scholarship fund and will be made available for the 2004 season.
Ideally we would like to be two seasons ahead with regards to fundraising, and we
estimate that it
may take at least two years to achieve that goal. We are also looking
eventually to
increase the amount of scholarships from $500 to $1,000 each. In addition,
the Festival
is seeking future public/private partnerships in a variety of areas including
enhanced
lighting at the Festival site, restored restroom facilities and the purchase of sound and
lighting equipment that will be high quality, reliable and cost efficient.