Tomorrow, Penn students will have an opportunity to listen to live music, visit museums and see motorcycle racers launch tricks - all at the perfect price for any college student.
In other words - free.
From 2 to 7 p.m., the Ben Franklin Parkway will be closed to traffic for the Campus Philly Kick-Off concert and festival.
Campus Philly is a non-profit organization that aims to connect students to Philadelphia. It is run mainly by undergraduates at local universities.
Students will be able to walk along the street and watch dance, extreme sports and musical performances featuring bands such as Fat Joe and Saves the Day. There will also be a bus looping to over 12 free museums and vendors with information on internships in the area.
"It's just gonna be big," said Executive Director of Campus Philly Jon Herrmann, who graduated from Penn in 2000. "We're hoping that when you go downtown and see the festival, we create a connection."
College senior Rebecca Chin worked on the planning and said the festival will be "a big social event."
"The whole parkway will be taken up, and there's local underground performers if you don't like Fat Joe," Chin said. "There's really a mix - from vendors with information about internships to Ikea, but it's all relevant to the college community in Philadelphia."
Josh Sevin, manager of Knowledge Industry Initiatives with the City of Philadelphia's commerce department, said the Kick-Off is especially important in the city's fight against "brain drain" - the flight of students from the city after graduation.
"It's not a bunch of suits sitting around trying to think about what college students would like while trying to promote a certain image of Philadelphia," Sevin said. "It's students who already connect with the city putting on a great party and inviting others."
The Kick-Off will be the seventh that the city has hosted, but this year, Penn fashion student-group DZine2Show will be one of the featured performers.
Students can get free transportation to the event on the Philly Phlash bus, which will be stopping at the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
"Even if you don't like all of the performers, you should go," Chin said. "It's an amazing feeling to be on the parkway with thousands of other students from Philly colleges.
