Celebrating LGBTQ pride, not-so-classic cars, black music and the annual Odunde Festival

Check out our picks for this week.

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Members of the performance group 'Flaggots' dance at the Philadelphia Pride Parade and Festival. (Branden Eastwood for WHYY)

Members of the performance group 'Flaggots' dance at the Philadelphia Pride Parade and Festival. (Branden Eastwood for WHYY)

Milton Pride Week
Milton Theater
110 Union Street
Milton, DE
Thursday, June 6 – Sunday, June 9th
Various prices

Southern Delaware celebrates Pride month with their own Pride “week” at the Milton Theater. The events include film screenings, a performance by Mississippi-based cabaret performer Magnolia Applebottom, a dance party, vendors offering information and resources for the LGBTQ community and live music performances from Christine Havrilla and Gypsy Fuzz and Meredith Rounsley along with a tribute to the legendary band Queen. Proceeds from each ticket sold will go to CAMP Rehoboth Community Center, an LGBT advocacy and resource organization.

Philly Pride Parade and Festival
Parade begins at 13th and Locust; ends at Great Plaza, Penn’s Landing (101 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd)
Sunday, June 9th; Parade: 11:00 a.m.– 1:30 p.m.,  Festival:12 noon – 6 p.m.
Parade is free, festival is $15

Philadelphia celebrates gay pride by commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City, which helped advance the cause of civil rights for the LGBTQ community. In the wake of those riots, a celebratory parade to commemorate the event took place in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago the next year, and in 1972, the tradition began in Philadelphia. The festival includes live music performances, food for purchase and community vendors.

Rennie Harris: Funkedified
Merriam Theater
250 S. Broad Street
Friday, June 7, Saturday, June 8; Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m., 8 p.m.
$20 – $50

Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris has a long and distinguished career as a hip-hop dancer and choreographer. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Harris was one of the genre’s pioneers, forming the first hip-hop dance company Puremovement in 1992. The choreography in his latest work, “Funkedified” is drawn from the ‘70s funk music of his childhood. Harris’ multimedia presentation includes the New York City dance crew The Hood Lockers and the funk band Invincible.

Center City District SIPS
Various locations
Wednesdays, June 5 – August 28th;  5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
$6 cocktails; $5 for wine; $4 for beers and appetizers at half-price at over 80 participating restaurants

It’s (almost) summer, and that means Wednesday night happy hours in Philadelphia. It’s officially called SIPS, but we know it better as the time to try out multiple restaurant drink and appetizer offerings at a less significant hit to our summer fun budgets. Not only can you take some fabulous food and drink shots for the ‘gram, you can follow Center City Sips’ Instagram account to see what looks most enticing for your Wednesday nights out.  It may help you to pin down which of the over 80 restaurants you want to be sure to try out, as August 28th will come way too quickly.

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Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll
Baltimore Ave from 43rd to 52nd
Thursday, June 6; 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Various prices

Over 40 vendors will be on hand for one of two Baltimore Avenue Dollar Strolls this year, an event that has gained in popularity as more people relocate to the transitioning neighborhood. The laid-back neighborhood crawl features most of the restaurants and businesses on the rapidly expanding corridor throwing open their doors to sell whatever wares they already offer – everything from food to jewelry to artworks and handcrafted items of all kinds. Not everything is exactly $1, but most businesses do offer some of their selection at that price. Expect to see kids, dogs, and members of the diverse, eclectic neighborhood come out for one of the city’s most easygoing street parties.

West Park Arts Fest
West Fairmount Park on South Concourse Drive (near 42nd and Parkside)
Saturday, June 8; 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Free

Fun and funk are on the menu in West Fairmount Park as the West Park Cultural Center, along with Mural Arts Philadelphia and The Fairmount Park Conservancy combine forces for the West Park Arts Fest. Trolley rides, food trucks and children’s activities are available with the event’s first Funk Fest  happening as well. The show features Breakwater, local artist Badd Kitti, and a parade led by community puppet troupe Spiral Q, which also hosts the annual Peoplehood parade.

Black Restaurant Week
Various locations
Sunday, June 9 –  Sunday, June 23
Pay as you go

This weekend marks the start of the second annual Black Restaurant Week, which showcases most of the city’s African-American owned restaurants (with the notable exception of the Bynum brothers’ eateries which include Green Soul, Warmdaddy’s and South). For two weeks, restaurants like West Philly’s Booker’s, Aksum and  48th Street Grill, along with breakfast spot Rose Petals Café in Elkins Park and Center City’s Haute Restaurant and Lounge, will provide selected discounts, while showcasing their many varieties of cuisine from Caribbean to Mediterranean to contemporary Southern and even vegan. Philadelphia is one of seven cities nationwide participating in the two-week event.

Hooptie-Con
New Jersey Motorsports Park
GPS Address: 8000 Dividing Creek Road, Millville, NJ
Saturday, June 8 – Sunday, June 9; 7 a.m. – 10 p.m.

$20 and up; Kids 12 and under free, rain or shine
If you have an affection for ancient cars, or ones that most of the population considers undesirable, you have now found your tribe. Hooptie-Con is billed as a “comic-con for beater cars,” the kind that most relegate to backyards and junkyards. To participate in the 24-hour race, your car must be purchased and prepped for track readiness at $500 or less. (We didn’t even know that was possible!) A car and fashion show featuring the best of the ‘80s and ‘90s, an awards gala, a pre-1965 hot rod car show and more round out the exhaust-ing weekend. If the idea of spending thousands of dollars restoring classic cars to pristine perfection is anathema to you, you’re in the right place at Hooptie-Con.

Philadelphia Veg Fest
Bainbridge Green
300 – 500 Bainbridge Street
Saturday, June 8; 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Free, with registration

If you’re living the plant-based diet life, then you’re probably healthy. Philadelphia’s Veg Fest hopes to keep you that way by encouraging and reinforcing a whole foods, plant-based diet for its participants. Over 50 vendors including purveyors of  lifestyles, arts and crafts, along with community resources, will be there to provide all the guidance you need for maintaining or beginning a vegan/vegetarian/pescatarian diet. Music, speakers and panel discussions will be happening as well.

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic
Franklin Music Hall
421 N. 7th
Thursday, June 6; 8 p.m.
$72.50 – $77.50

Funk icon George Clinton, now 77, says that this will be his last Philly performance, but it’s hard to think of Parliament-Funkadelic’s legendary leader as a retiree. Fortunately, his kids and grandkids are likely to carry on the family tradition as the 24-piece band now includes many of them as well. Clinton, who’s played with masterful musicians like bass player Bootsy Collins and saxophonist Maceo Parker, and who was once signed to Prince’s Paisley Park Records, has had an extraordinary career. His iconic funk bands set the tone for funk disciples to come and provided the rhythmic cornerstone of hip-hop, who “borrowed”  their music to create new songs via sampling.

Brian McKnight
Tower Theater
69th and Ludlow Streets
Upper Darby, PA
Friday, June 7th; 8 p.m.
$49 and up

Aside from being a platinum-selling artist, R&B singer/songwriter Brian McKnight holds a pretty unusual distinction. Despite numerous hit songs and 16 nominations, he’s never scored a Grammy win. But that has not deterred his loyal fanbase who’ve enjoyed his music for the last three-plus decades. “One Last Cry” and “Anytime” are among the timeless songs McKnight is known for, and his 1999 album “Back at One” went triple platinum. Since then, McKnight has acted and hosted radio and TV talk shows and continued recording as well. In 2017, he released his most recent album, “Genesis,” which charted on the Top 10 Current R&B Albums chart and the Top 20 Current R&B and hip-hop albums charts, according to Soundscan rankings. The album earned him two NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Male Artist and Outstanding Album.

Philly Beer Week
Various venues
Through Sunday, June 9
Various pay-as-you-go prices

Philly Beer Week, a celebration of the city’s adoration of craft brewing, wraps up with several events, including the Barrel Aged Extravaganza, which features barrel-aged beers and ciders from breweries local and far-flung, a Sour Brunch featuring locally brewed sours, and the Clam Bake On the Patio, which hopes to entice beer and clam lovers who want to avoid shore traffic but still have a beach-like weekend experience. Live music may help encourage reluctant travelers to stay local.


4U Prince Party
Philadelphia School of Circus Arts
6452 Greene Street
Friday, June 7; 8 p.m.
$19.99 – $25

The beloved artist Prince would have celebrated his 61st birthday on June 7th if not for his untimely death in April 2016. But his music  and legacy lives on through global celebrations of his life and work. Philly’s party will feature DJ Aktive and DJ Mike Nyce as well as live performance and creative works from a variety of musicians, visual and even aerial artists. Food will be available for purchase at the

Eating Binge food truck and  Prince artwork, created by local artists, will be available to bid on. A ‘Most Fly’ male and female will be crowned, so come dressed to impress in your best purple finery.

RBRM – 4 The Love Of It Tour
The Met Philadelphia
858 N. Broad Street
Thursday, June 6th; 8 p.m.
$39.95 and up

Boston-grown R&B boy band New Edition has gone through a series of changes and challenges in their 30-plus year career. The group’s journey was chronicled in a 2017 BET mini-series “The New Edition Story” that earned the network some of its highest ratings ever for original programming. As the series showed, the band has seen some changing lineups over the years. The original lineup was Ralph Tresvant, Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe; R&B vocalist Johnny Gill came on in 1987 after Brown was fired. (As you may have heard, he went on to a successful solo career and a tumultuous marriage to Whitney Houston.) In 1990, Bell, Bivins and DeVoe formed the splinter group BBD, which had a R&B/hip-hop hit with the instant classic “Poison.” These days, Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike are touring as RBRM (Tresvant and Gill, the band’s better known voices, have declined to participate.) Fortunately, New Edition has several vocalists to pinch-hit, and we’re sure they can still pull off those smooth dance moves.

Odunde Festival
South Street between 20th and 23nd – and 23rd and Greys Ferry Avenue between Lombard and Christian
Sunday, June 9; 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Free

Created by Philadelphia community icon Lois Fernandez in 1975, the nation’s largest African street festival encompasses a  number of events including an African business roundtable, an opening dignitaries reception and a Caribbean business seminar. Now run by Fernandez’ daughter, Oshunbumi Fernandez,  this year’s festival will bring hundreds of Afrocentric food, art, jewelry, apparel and community vendors to the South Philly site, and a performance by hip-hop pioneer, Doug E. Fresh, whose beatboxing skills set off an entire genre of hip-hop’s lyrical and vocal wizardry. He’s performing on the Main Stage at 6:45 p.m.

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