Thousands pack Ben Franklin Parkway to celebrate the end of summer at Made in America

Thousands packed the Benjamin Franklin Parkway over Labor Day weekend for the two-day Made in America music festival.

The festival, curated by rapper and music industry executive Jay-Z, has been a summer staple in Philadelphia for more than a decade. This year’s fest included performances from chart-topping artists from around the world. Tyler, the Creator and Bad Bunny were the headliners, and the crowd was also treated to performances by Philadelphia natives Jazmine Sullivan and Lil Uzi Vert.

Some fans arrived hours ahead of the scheduled performances. Avery Seeger drove more than an hour from Delaware. He said he’s looking to make the most out of the Labor Day weekend festival.

“For Philly to have a festival like this is pretty cool,” Seeger said. “I’m only like an hour and a half away or whatever, so it’s a good trip to make and it’s just fun to have, you know?”

Quade Ivy also made the trip from Delaware to attend the festival. He said he didn’t know about the festival’s existence until this year, but once he found out tickets were on sale, he couldn’t pass up the chance to see artists like Don Toliver live.

“Philly has different things besides sports,” Ivy said. “I barely come to Philly, besides coming through going to New York or whatever. It’s really amazing to see how it came from a decade to now.”

According to Live Nation, Made in America has made an estimated direct economic impact of $150 million since its inception.

At least 50% of all visiting festival event-goers have stayed in local hotels for an average of 2.5 nights. Over the holiday weekend, 95% of all visitors came to Philly to attend the festival. The latest Tourism Economics forecast projects hotel occupancy for this month in Center City to be 64.1%.