Organizations partner to host festival celebrating Cherry Street Pier opening

Philadelphia Contemporary, an art nonprofit, partnered with the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation to host the first weekend of Festival for the People, which started on Saturday at Cherry Street Pier. The multi-week festival will take place at Cherry Street Pier during the next two weekends.

The theme last weekend was “The People’s Analog Culture,” which celebrated print materials and pre-digital times when people used items like typewriters and analog watches.

Music, seesaws, interactive sculptures, art installations and trolley cars converted into food trucks drew people to Cherry Street Pier to celebrate its grand opening.

“It’s a really cool modern space,” said 31-year-old Will McKinley, of Fairmount, on Saturday. “It’s been really enjoyable so far.”

The festival featured an interactive poetry installation in which attendees could use typewriters, provided by the South Philadelphia business Philly Typewriter, to type their own poems.

“It’s just a unique thing that you wouldn’t get to do anywhere,” said Danielle Weiss, 24, who went to the event while visiting Philadelphia from Atlanta.