June 28 – 30: Musical ice cream | Hawthorne Hall wrap | Gritty Semiotics | Mt. Airy Art Garage exhibit | All you can eat ice cream | Tyler Arboretum fairy festival | Preservation Alliance tours

Happy Friday Street team! Looking for something to do this weekend? Here are our suggestions.

CELEBRATE Shooting Stars at Philadelphia Art Alliance

Friday, June 28, 7 p.m – 10 p.m., Philadelphia Art Alliance, 261 South 18th Street, Philadelphia. Nothing says happy Independence Day like eating musical ice cream. This Friday, the Philadelphia Art Alliance will host “Shooting Stars,” a birthday celebration and participatory culinary performance conceived by Great City Productions. The perfromance and dinner will examine the intersection of American politics and the culture of celebrity in the U.S., but the highlight of the event may just be the musical ice cream perfromance that the LIttle Baby’s Ice Cream team is preparing. Cost: $20 for dinner, $5 admission. 

TOAST Hawthorne Hall Wrap Party

Friday, June 28th, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., 3849 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia. PEC and Hidden City will celebrate Hawthorne Hall, which has been featured during Hidden City Festival. The festival wraps up at the end of this month, but PEC hopes to keep the momentum around Hawthorne Hall going. Friday, the two parties will host a night of wine, music and a toast to Hidden City Festival. Guests will also be able to explore the Society of Pythagoras exhibit. Free

DESIGN Gritty Semiotics: A History of Design in Philadelphia

Friday, June 28, 1 p.m. -7 p.m. AIGA Space, 72 North 2nd Street. The latest AIGA Philadelphia exhibit “explores the soul of a place, through the historical context of graphic design in Philadelphia.” Guests will explore how the fabric of an environment and the powerful cultural force of design have led to numerous movements and breakthroughs in design right here in Philly. AIGA has put together a mix of contemporary and historical pieces for this showcase and hopes to lead thought toward where the craft might be headed in the future. Friday is the exhibit’s closing day. 

ART Mt. Airy Art Garage Summer Show Off

Friday, June 28. 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Mt. Airy Art Garage, 11 W. Mt. Airy Avenue. Mt. Airy Art Garage’s community-driven exhibit kicks off tonight with member and non-member work ranging from painting to photography, sculpture, mosaic, clay, woodwork, fiber and more. Celebrate the local artists, their creations and the Solomon Levy Gallery. Free.

FEAST Super Scooper All-You-Can-Eat Ice Cream Festival

Saturday, June 29th, Noon – 6pm, Penn’s Landing, Columbus Boulevard at Walnut Street. The 15th annual all-you-can-eat ice cream festival is pack at Penn’s Landing this Saturday. A donation to support the the Joshua Kahan Fund, which fights pediatric leukemia, gets visitors access to favorite ice cream brands like Haagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry’s, Philadelphia Water Ice, Bassett’s, J&J Snack Foods, Breyer’s/Good Humor, Edy’s, Turkey Hill, and Jack & Jill. Cost: $7

FEST Fairy And Wizard Festival At Tyler Arboretum

Sunday, June 30th, 10am – 2pm, 515 Painter Road, Media. On Sunday, June 30, families are invited to partake in nature and magic-centric arts and crafts, activities, live shows and more. Crafts include miniature fairy house building and gnome home construction to house all of the magical creatures at Tyler Arboretum. Children are also invited to try their hand at creating fairy wands, halos, magical potpourri and wizard hats. Free

TOUR The Preservation Alliance Walking Tours

City Hall to City Hall: Saturday, June 29th, 10am – Noon, Meet at NE corner of 5th & Chestnut Sts. Circle City Hall and explore the surrounding 19th and early 20th century commercial buildings under the guidance of Preservation Alliance experts. Attendees will learn about Philadelphia’s transformation into a modern city, poised for the 21st century. 

Rittenhouse Square West: Saturday, June 29th, 2pm – 4pm, Meet at pool, center of Rittenhouse Square. Walk the streets west of Rittenhouse, where grand houses seem small in comparison to the square’s high-rise apartment buildings. Here you’ll catch some of Philadelphia’s most fashionable brownstones. 

Skyscrapers Old & New: Sunday, June 30th, 2pm – 4pm, Meet at exterior north portal of City Hall, N. Broad St. & JFK Blvd. Learn more about Penn Center, one of the country’s most acclaimed examples of post World War II renewal, and the legacy of Edmund Bacon and the Philadelphia City Planning Commission on this Sunday tour. 

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