Hard to believe it’s been a year already since we started flying this kite, our weekly online publication focused on growth and what’s next in Greater Philadelphia.
We could have staged Flying Kite's first birthday party anywhere. Keeping with our mission of highlighting innovative thinking, we have chosen an innovative space in which to
celebrate Flying Kite’s first birthday. It's on South Street, inside the large, former Beyond the Wall store location, and we're there to support what's happening on one of Philadelphia's most visible and important thoroughfares.
Judging by early walk-by reactions as we were cleaning up the vacant storefront at 415 South St., people like the activity we're bringing. "I remember the last poster I bought there," says one young woman walking by with friends on Friday around happy hour time. "Is something new coming here?" asks a longtime local.
We hope you’ll
join us on Wednesday, Nov. 2 from 6-10 p.m. to see for yourself this space that we’re bringing to life for one night. We’ll have some beer, wine, snacks and entertainment. The
Choice Tasters Selectors DJ team will spin throughout the night. For lovers of the visual arts, we'll be projecting our favorite masthead images from the last year on surfaces throughout the building. We're also still accepting sponsorship requests. Contact us
here for more info.
The party space sits in the middle of a bigger movement on South Street to reclaim its artist- and community-driven roots.
Arts on South is an innovative program organized by Philadelphia's Magic Gardens and the South Street Headhouse District that loans unrented retail stores to local groups to display their artwork.
The goal is to reassert the artistic community's role in South Street's vitality as a retail and cultural destination, and the groups currently working toward that goal in unrented spaces include
Neighborhood Bike Works (508 South St.),
Dumpster Divers (604 South St.),
Mighty Vision (641 South St.) and
Community Cultural Exchange (706 South St.). Applications for the next round of participants are due Nov. 15.
We couldn’t have come this far without our partners, supporters and friends, and we hope you’ll all join us for a fun, relaxed evening to celebrate our work, your work and the future of South Street.
JOE PETRUCCI is managing editor of Flying Kite. Send feedback here.