If you've already whiled away a pleasant evening or three this summer at the pop-up
Spruce Street Harbor Park but haven't yet stopped by the
reimagined Eakins Oval at the center of the
Benjamin Franklin Parkway, you'll want to consider making room in your schedule for a visit.
Officially dubbed
The Oval, the temporary eight-acre public space sits directly in front of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art. It popped up last summer, and following a number of spring and fall events, celebrated its seasonal return to the Parkway in mid-July.
For the next four weeks (through August 17) the color-saturated urban play space will be home to a huge schedule of free
events, activities and community programming. There will be fitness boot camps and yoga classes; Quizzo contests and film screenings; Tai Chi lessons and DJ nights. And along with a monster-sized chess board, a ping-pong table and a mini-golf course (all free!), The Oval also features a rotating cast of food trucks and a beer garden built from reclaimed construction materials.
The Oval's "has been very, very successful," says Colleen Campbell of the
Fairmount Park Conservancy. "It's been tremendously well-received."
And although last summer's beach theme was popular with park-goers, this year the design is different. Local artist
Candy Coated was commissioned by the
Association for Public Art to transform The Oval into a whimsical space with a
magic carpet motif.
"It's very fanciful, and it's very bright," explains Campbell. "Aside from our programming, it's just a fun piece of art to interact with."
The Oval is open 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Wednesday - Friday; noon - 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Source: Colleen Campbell, Fairmount Park Conservancy
Writer: Dan Eldridge