A guide to Spruce Street Harbor Park & Blue Cross RiverRink Summerfest

Last year, the Delaware River Waterfront got an exciting seasonal addition in Spruce Street Harbor Park — and it was awesome. The ambiance, boardwalk, games, hammocks, fire pits, food — the works — lead the park to be lauded by the Huffington Post as one of the world's best urban beaches. But, with summer's departure so went SSHP.

Now, the wait is over: Spruce Street Harbor Park (Spruce St. and Columbus Blvd.) is returning for the 2015 season on Friday, May 22. Open daily through Sunday, September 27, the park will be joined with an all-new feature: outdoor roller rink, Blue Cross RiverRink Summerfest. (More on that in a bit.)

The vibe
Much like last year, The Oasis at SSHP, featuring three floating barges, water gardens, seating and restaurant and bar — that last year was dubbed the Blue Anchor — will return. Don't forget about the net lounge, either. The water-suspension seating will also make a return.

To meet the major demand for hammocks, the park will be outfitted with more of the handmade cradles. Additional chairs and picnic tables will also help keep the thousands of visitors comfortable throughout the summer.

Things get even better once the sun goes down. Over 300 LED lights will once again illuminate the space, adding to the ambiance.

New this year is a meadow filled with Philadelphia Museum of Art-donated perennials.

Summerfest
As summer's version of Winterfest, this waterfront roller rink will offer much of the same amenities. Situated just a bit down the road from Spruce Street Harbor Park, Summerfest is located on Columbus Bvld. at Market St.

Like Winterfest, Summerfest will also feature a Lodge area, this time themed like an air-conditioned boathouse with canoes, paddles and fans. Outdoors, a wraparound porch will be outfitted with rocking chairs and other seating.

The rink itself will have a green oasis at its center filled with shrubbery, lights, seating and a booth for DJ performances.

Both roller and in-line skates will be available for rental for $10 while admission to the rink is $3. BOYSkates is totally fine, too.

Shopping
At SSHP, NoLibs boutique Art Star returns for weekly markets on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bringing the top craft vendors, whose lineup will change each week, shoppers can expect the best in quirky and cutesy handmade items.

On Sundays, vendors from the popular Punk Rock Flea Market will post up in the park for an 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. mini-market featuring vintage goods, records, clothing and more.

Features
As far as grub goes, you've got options. The Garces Group will return to the Blue Anchor with a revival of Chifa, a Peruvian and Chinese fusion. Along the SSHP boardwalk, Garces will also offer hot dogs, bacon knockwurst, Bavarian salt pretzels and Froman's special fries. The Distrito Taco Truck will have your taco cravings covered on the weekends. New food additions include the presence of Franklin Fountain ice cream, Federal Donuts fried chicken sandwich, donuts and cold brew and sweets from Shane's Confectionary (in the Lodge at Summerfest). The Summerfest snack bar will also offer standards like pizza, nachos and soda.

SSHP's three bars and Summerfest's Lodge will serve local craft beers — like the Yards and SSHP collaboration, Lazy Hammock IPA — wines and summer cocktails.

Get your game on at the arcade, which now features more games including skeeball, air hockey, claw crane games, Ms. Pacman and racing games. Outside of the game room, lawn games like bocce, shuffleboard, ping-pong, cornhole, giant chess, Connect Four and Jenga and tetherball will be available for play.

Have fun on land and off. Interested seamen and women can rent radio and wind-powered boats to cruise around throughout the entire season. Paddle Penn's Landing returns as well to offer kayak, canoe and foot-pedal swan boat rentals at the Independence Seaport Museum (211 S. Columbus Blvd.).

Starting in June, a unique workout returns to SSHP. Standup Paddleboard Yoga classes, a fusion of paddleboard and yoga, will be offered in 90-minute classes on Wednesday evenings and Saturdays.

Philly's new bike share program, Indego, will have a convenient docking station across the street at Foglietta Plaza.

Events
Before opening weekend officially gets underway, a ticketed preview party will help build the excitement. The Spruce Street Harbor Park Promenade on Wednesday, May 20 will help raise money for waterfront programming, all the while providing top-notch fare from local restaurants (think Lacroix, Buddakan and Pub & Kitchen), drinks and fireworks. The causal chic affair runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Summer unofficially kicks off on Friday, May 22 when both SSHP and Summerfest welcome visitors and daylong entertainment. Face painters, stilt walkers, and Trinidelphia will liven things up at SSHP from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the Phillie Phanatic (3 p.m.-4 p.m.) and DJ Jazzy Jeff (9 p.m.-11 p.m.) will make appearances at Summerfest. Arts and culture continue on Saturday, May 23 and Sunday, May 24 with tons of performances.

Also expect the announcement of live music performances throughout the summer at both venues. Last year, the park hosted Pattern is Movement, Purling Hiss and Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band.

Hours
Spruce Street Harbor Park is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Sunday and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Blue Cross RiverRink Summerfest is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Sunday and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The Lodge restaurant will serve from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. The Lodge bar will stay open an hour later than the restaurant on Friday and Saturday. The snack bar's hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.

For more Things to Do, check out our calendar for the most up-to-date happenings.