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.
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An attendee of the Festival For the People takes a photo of their reflection in one of the interactive “Prismatica” installations by Raw Design at Cherry Street Pier on Saturday. | HANNAH BURNS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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Lauren Eckhoff, age 24, from Cincinnati, Ohio, creates a poem as a part of the interactive poetry installation at Festival for the People at Cherry Street Pier on Saturday. | HANNAH BURNS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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People at Cherry Street Pier for the Festival for the People on Saturday. | HANNAH BURNS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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An attendee of the Festival for the People interacts with the interactive installation, “Impulse,” a seesaw installation designed by CS Design and Lateral Office. | HANNAH BURNS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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The “Germantown” banner, a part of Erin Geffrard’s “Banners for the People,” hangs from the rafters at Cherry Street Pier on Saturday. The “Banners for the People” project is on display at Cherry Street Pier as a part of the Festival for the People. | HANNAH BURNS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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Big City Trolley, a trolley converted into a food truck, sells sandwiches and salads at the Festival for the People at Cherry Street Pier on Saturday. | HANNAH BURNS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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Poems created by attendees of the Festival for the People, as a part of an interactive poetry installation, hang on strings at the event on Saturday. | HANNAH BURNS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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