This Year’s Feastival Is Almost Here


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Photo courtesy Yoni Nimrod

It’s almost time again.

Feastival–one of Philly’s biggest, wildest, weirdest and best food festivals–is coming to the FringeArts complex (140 North Columbus Blvd) on Thursday, September 29. If you’ve never been to a Feastival before, it’s a tough thing to describe–a potent combination of food, booze and performing arts, the kind of event where both the fried chicken from Questlove and the naked acrobats coexist peacefully in blurry memories of what went down last night. If you have? You know exactly what I’m talking about.

Anyway, tickets are on sale now and going fast. In the meantime, we’ve got all the details on this years food-a-palooza, so let’s take a look, shall we?

For starters, this year is going to be a bit different than years past because Michael Solomonov is organizing a series of live culinary performances featuring elements of heat and cold. On the one hand, you’ll have chefs Solomonov, Nick Macri and Brad Spence down in the Fringe Fire Pit working two rotisseries and a grill and serving directly to guests. On the other, there’s Greg Vernick and Peter Serpico doing their own thing at the PECO Ice Station.

No, I have no idea what they’ve got in mind. No, I have no idea what they’re going to be cooking or how they’ll be presenting it. But right off the bat, that’s five of the best chefs in the city who will be personally cooking for you (and trying to show off for each other), so I’m guessing something good is going to happen.

Those aren’t the only performances that will be happening that night. Check it out:

“Circadium, the nation’s only school of contemporary circus, will blend modern-day circus entertainment with physical theater, presenting stiltwalkers, jugglers, contortionists, and aerialists. FringeArts’ resident band Red 40 & The Last Groovement returns, bringing disco and funk to the 21st century and will be further sassed up with an LED video stage provided by Tait Towers. Inside FringeArts, the Audi Artist Lounge will feature Philadelphia muralist Juan Dimida who will live paint a 2017 Audi A4 over the course of the evening, integrating traditional painting styles with cutting-edge digital art in the spirit of innovation and technology. Brian Sanders’ JUNK, a Fringe Festival favorite, known for their ingenious use of found objects and clever inventions, will also perform in the Audi Artist Lounge.”

So disco, acrobats, funk and junk. Got it. Moving on.

The list of restaurants represented at Feastival is always exemplary, with all the biggest names in the city fighting for space. New to the stage this year are The Dutch, Hugo Frog’s, Jezabel’s, ROOT, Urban Farmer and Wm. Mulherin’s Sons, and they’ll be joining the likes of Bing Bing, La Peg, Kensington Quarters, Laurel, V Street, Fork, Pat’s Steaks and dozens more. You can check out the full list of restuarnts participating in Feastival 2016 right here, but trust me. If it’s a place you’ve been wanting to check out, odds are good that they’ll be there on Thursday night.

Okay, so what else? There’ll be plenty of booze (there always is). The crowd will be a fairly wild mix of Philly’s swells and weirdoes (it always is). There’s always a silent auction with big-ticket items going out to those willing to kick in large donations. And tickets will run you $300 a pop–which is pricey, yes, but completely worth it if this is your kind of scene. Also, it gets you a one-year FringeArts membership which comes with its own benefits.

I know we’ll be there. Hopefully we’ll see all of you, too.

Feastival 2016 [Official]