It’s Shadfest time on the Delaware River

Philadelphia and Lambertville celebrate fish swimming up river

Fans of art, music…and fish…will swarm to a Philadelphia neighborhood Saturday, for the second year in a row.
The festival marks the shad’s annual trip up the Delaware River to spawn.

Fishtown may be better known now for its hipsters and bars than for its fish. But the Fishtown Shad Fest held at Penn Treaty Park celebrates the community’s past while welcoming scores of new young residents.

Paul Kimport helped create Shadfest and is the President of the Fishtown Area Business Association.

“The story of Fishtown as a community is largely that of fishing shad. And the shad is a seasonal quantity and I think a great way to make people think about the river and the lifecycle of the seasons and the fish that live in it.”

Philadelphians aren’t the only people celebrating shad this weekend — Lambertville, New Jersey will host its 29th Annual Shad Fest.