This Mayfair Native’s Job Is Making Sure Philly Visitors Have a Good Time

Kathryn Ott Lovell / Photograph by Kyle Kielinski

Mayfair native Kathryn Ott Lovell is one of those behind-the-scenes characters whose names you might not know. But after decades of leadership roles within the city, she’s so well-connected that she literally knows anyone who’s anyone. So who better to lead the charge for our 250th?

Most of the people I interview in these pages are household names, whether it’s Governor Josh Shapiro, Sheryl Lee Ralph, or, most recently, Joey Merlino …
I just finished reading that one. Amazing. This one is going to pale in comparison. [Laughs]

Well, you’re one of the more well-connected people in Philadelphia, but you’re certainly not a household name. So I am going to start with that really annoying prompt some prospective employers throw out at candidates during interviews: Tell us about yourself, Kathryn.
[Laughs] Well, I was born and raised in Mayfair. I’m at least a fourth-generation Philadelphian. I say at least because that’s the furthest I’ve been able to get on Ancestry.com. I went to St. Hubert, an all-girls school, then the University of Scranton, and then I came back to Philly and had an amazing series of jobs, none of which actually felt like jobs.

What was the first big one you landed?
When I was around 30, I went to work for Mural Arts as the development director under the extraordinary Jane Golden. That was quite the formative experience. Working with her taught me everything about the city I didn’t know. You really can learn the city through its murals. Mural Arts was also an incredibly fast-paced organization. It was like working on a political campaign where every day is like the day before the election, but the election never actually arrives. It was that level of intensity, and I was young and ambitious and truly inspired by Jane.

I frequently tell people, especially locals, to take a Mural Arts tour. They are eye-opening and bring you to parts of the city you might not otherwise ever get to visit.
The murals are an autobiography of the city, and the artists who make them completely embed themselves in the community around them. The hopes and dreams of the community become part of the mural.

And from Mural Arts, you became the head of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, and from there, head of Parks & Rec under Jim Kenney.
Yes, and just as I got to know the city through its murals, I then got to know the city through its parks and the community leaders stewarding them. And now, I’m the head of the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation.

Which is what, exactly? How does that differ from Visit Philly?
There are five families of tourism in Philadelphia. Visit Philly is the marketing org. PHL CVB is the sales engine that brings the conferences and conventions here. Then there’s the Convention Center, which hosts big events. You have the hotel association. And then there’s us. We are the boots on the ground. Once you get somebody to visit, we’re the ones that greet them and make sure they have a great experience. We have four visitor centers, the main one being the one I am sitting in now at 6th and Market, the Independence Visitor Center.

Kathryn Ott Lovell outside the Independence Visitor Center / Photograph by Kyle Kielinski

And if I’m not mistaken, you’re also in charge of the tours at City Hall, which I also tell everyone to take.
Yes! I never took that tour until I started this job, and I was just blown away. We do the tour of the building and another tour that takes you up to the top. There’s no view in Philadelphia quite like that one.

There’s literally no one sad to see your old boss gone. Jim Kenney wound up with a terribly bad rap. But given the COVID outbreak, the huge protests, and the massive surge in violence, all of which came in the first year of his second term, was this bad rap undeserved? Could anyone else have done better?
[Pauses] I … don’t know. I will say that COVID was incredibly challenging on every level as city employees and essential workers, and actually, my department was the most forward-facing of any of those during COVID. Parks became sanctuaries. Rec centers became schools for the children of essential workers. We had to set those rec centers up with desks and internet access. We brought all that in. And we had to staff those schools. We also had the first vaccine site and the first testing site. We were … busy.

Okay, last question about Parks & Rec, a question my kids insisted I ask you. How accurate was the show?
Beyond accurate. I loved that show, Victor, but I had to stop watching it because it was too real. It was like some writer for the show was embedded in city government. I was living in a sitcom. And actually, I could write a sitcom about where I am now. If you can get Quinta Brunson or Amy Poehler on the phone for me, that will be fantastic.

In January, you became the head of Philadelphia250, which is all about next year’s celebration of America’s birthday in the birthplace of it all. In 2022, we published a deep dive into the “ugly Philly-centric feud at the center of America’s 250th birthday celebration.”
Oh, yeah! I read that article a few months ago. That was crazy. There’s literally none of that now. Seriously.

Did the story ring true to you?
Oh, absolutely. The story was completely accurate, but there’s no concept of that now. The administrative and planning side is now very normal, almost boring, and not at all salacious. I assure you that we’re doing the good work and that everything is on the up and up.

There’s Philadelphia250, there’s a Pennsylvania-specific 250 organization, there’s America250, there’s the White House’s 250 task force. Seems like a lot of cooks in the kitchen.
Our group has really refined its mission to make sure that this celebration pours out into the neighborhoods. All of the neighborhoods. We are going to make sure to involve and engage all of these communities.

So I have to ask you a hugely controversial question. Are you ready for it?
Hit me.

Is it the semiquincentennial, the sestercentennial, the bisesquicentennial, or the quarter-millennial? I’ve heard all of these terms thrown around.
[Laughs] Yeah, these are all such catchy terms, aren’t they? I can just imagine people in line at Angelo’s saying, So are you ready for the big semiquincentennial? Are there hyphens or spaces in that? I don’t really know. I’m trying to sell people on “semiquin.”

Kathryn Ott Lovell and Sylvester Stallone, flanked by city officials and Stone’s wife, Jennifer Flavin, while celebrating Rocky Day on December 3, 2023 / Photograph by Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images

Obviously, there’s lots of fun stuff in the works for the 250th, but I do have to ask you about security. Back in May, Whitemarsh Township officials canceled — but later reinstated — their annual Fourth of July parade that they’d been doing for many decades because of a fear that terrorists could strike there. In Whitemarsh! With 250, we are talking about a series of absolutely huge events that will have Philadelphia in the international spotlight. How do you keep people safe?
I’m actually not part of those conversations, but we have an incredible police commissioner, and I think that the Super Bowl parade provides us with the perfect example of how Philly can do really big things successfully. We pulled off a massive celebration. The Parker administration and the police get an A-plus-plus-plus for that. So if that’s a dry run for next year, I am happy with that.

How might the Trump administration insert itself into what happens in Philadelphia next year? By the time this comes out, Trump will have enjoyed a huge military parade with 28 Abrams tanks, 6,700 soldiers, and dozens of helicopters involved. Is there a chance we’ll be parading our Minuteman III ICBMs down Market Street and having Trump as the keynote speaker on July 4, 2026, at Independence Hall?
I don’t know what’s going to happen. All I am aware of right now is that there is some essential work happening at Independence Park that has been mandated by the current administration, like painting, carpentry, and construction. I work across the street and can see it all happening.

So what else is happening in Philadelphia next year that we should know about?
We’re hosting six matches of the World Cup, including on July 4th. FIFA is going to be setting up Fan Fest at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park. That will be huge. That will be 39 days and nights, showing all the World Cup matches on big screens, all with lots of food and beverages and fun stuff to do. Our sense is that there will be a lot of people coming to Philadelphia — and to all of the World Cup cities — who do not have tickets to the matches but want to be a part of them, and this is what Fan Fest is for. Experiencing the World Cup without a seat in the stadium.

Then there is the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also in July. Welcome America will be supersized. Aronimink is hosting the PGA Championship for the first time in more than 60 years. March Madness is coming again. We’re going to have a brand-new, massive arts festival called ArtPhilly. I could go on.

It’s important to keep in mind what next year is really about, which is what happened here in 1776. Modern democracy was birthed. And democracy is very vulnerable, especially now.”  — Kathryn Ott Lovell

Speaking of big plans, I’ve heard about the very ambitious long-term project to completely remake the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. What can you tell me about that?
I began to implement that plan at Parks & Rec, and I am still on the Parkway Council. The plan creates a massive park instead of a parkway. This goes back to the original vision of what the area was supposed to be, before the 1940s when cars were becoming more prioritized. This is going to be like what France has done with the Champs-Élysées. Traffic will be rerouted to allow the Oval to be connected to the Art Museum. The outer lanes of the Parkway will be eliminated, and the Parkway will become parkland. One giant space. It’s incredibly ambitious.

It sounds great, but is this actually going to happen, or is this going to be another­ DisneyQuest or similar project­ that everybody talks about for years and then doesn’t happen?
There’s federal funding to do the first phase, the basic infrastructure. There’s a lot to talk about here, a lot of moving parts. It would be great if Philly Mag would do a big story about this.

I’m definitely making a note of that, though you have me a little concerned when you’re talking about relying on federal funding, since I’m not sure the White House is a big fan of our little town. For now, I realize we’re out of time. Good luck with all of your planning for next year. It’s a lot of work. I don’t envy you.
It sure is. And it’s important to keep in mind what next year is really about, which is what happened here in 1776. Modern democracy was birthed. And democracy is very vulnerable, especially now. We need to talk about this new and incredible thing we created here, and we need to talk about preserving it. I’m Catholic, and around Christmas, we always have to remember what Christmas is really about for us, and next year, we need to remember all of this.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Published as “Party Planner” in the July 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.