Benjamin Franklin Parkway was filled with thousands of area college students and residents Saturday, who drank gallons of lemonade, cooled off with tubs of water ice and chowed down on thousands of french fries and funnel cakes while listening to live music.
The food, music and company was only a small portion of the Concert and Expo and College Day on the Parkway, the kick-off events of the annual Philadelphia College Festival, an event designed to keep students in the city post graduation.
College Day on the Parkway featured free admission to local museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Rodin Museum and the Franklin Institute.
During the Concert and Expo, the parkway was closed to make space for local food vendors, sound stages for performers and booths from local colleges, the armed services and community service organizations.
The concert was headlined by recording artist Busta Rhymes, but also featured local groups including Silvertide, Rowdy Black Giants, Paul Green School of Rock and Still Standing.
Students from several local universities ventured to the parkway to experience the events. Philadelphia University sophomore Alexis Marans and two of her friends decided to head to the parkway at the spur of the moment.
"We were bored, so we decided to take a drive," she said. She added that her favorite part of the event was the concert, although she did not plan to stay to see Busta Rhymes, who performed later that evening.
Unlike Marans, Temple sophomore Steve Kur came to the event to see Busta Rhymes, an artist that he likes, but had yet to see in concert. His friend, Temple junior Paul Pallas, said that he would "rather see someone else," such as a rock artist.
Kur and Pallas said they were disappointed with the student turnout at the event.
"There are not that many college students here," Pallas said. "However, there are lots of other people."
This turnout was surprising to them because Kur said he had "heard about [the event] throughout the week."
Despite this low assessment of student turnout, Deanna Watson, a Temple senior who was working at the event as an intern for the city, said that 20,000 students were expected to attend.
Among the booths that lined the Parkway was one operated by Penn, one of the event's sponsors. Carol De Fries, a University spokeswoman, worked at the booth and said she saw a "large turnout of Penn students, and even overall," noting that it was "a big increase from last year."
College Fest was organized by the City of Philadelphia's Office of the City Representative and Director of Commerce Department in conjunction with Campus Philly, a student-run organization that works to promote positive relationships between local universities and the city. It is designed to expose Philadelphia's quarter-million college students to the city, and encourage them to consider staying in Philadelphia after graduation.
"We are... making a concerted effort to ensure our best and brightest young minds know there are a multitude of cutting-edge career opportunities right here in Philadelphia," Mayor John Street wrote in a press release.
In order to do so, College Fest also includes an internship fair to connect students with local businesses.
The festival was sponsored by local universities and businesses including SEPTA, the Knowledge Industry Partnership -- which is led by University President Judith Rodin -- WB17, Y-100 Radio, 103.9 The Beat, the Delaware Valley Port Authority, along with Drexel, Villanova, Temple and La Salle universities.
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