From gear to beer: Pope fever in Philly
For those not yet experiencing pope overload, prepare for His Holiness' ubiquity even before he touches down at PHL.
SEPTA's "Pope passes" lottery-launch debacle showed that Pope Francis' historic visit to Philadelphia could very literally crash the city. But for those not yet experiencing pope overload, prepare for His Holiness' ubiquity even before he touches down at PHL.
Earlier in the summer, Dirty Frank's owners Jody Sweitzer and Brad Pierce said a papal addition could make its way onto the famed Dirty Frank's mural at 13th and Pine streets. Today, that thought is coming to fruition.
Twitter user Lauren Vidas tweeted a photo of David McShane, the artist who originally created the Dirty Frank's mural, adding an image of Pope Francis this morning.
"The most exciting news about the papal visit thus far," Vidas wrote.
Looking at the pope's likeness as you stroll downtown is one thing, but Pope is Dope Philly, a new Etsy account, is taking the pope's visit one step further.
Selling Philly- and pop-culture-themed papal gear, Pope is Dope Philly offers a Fresh Prince-themed tee ("Is West Philadelphia, honored and praised"), a LOVE Park-inspired Pope shirt and, of course, it wouldn't be Philly if there wasn't a cheesesteak and a "Rocky" reference in there, somewhere.
Shirts will begin shipping on Sept. 8, just in time to head over to Manayunk Brewing Company to enjoy a papal brew.
That's right.
Blessed by the Rev. John Kelly of Manayunk's St. John the Baptist Parish, the Belgian amber ale draws notes from Pope Francis' home country of Argentina with ingredients like oak from Malbec wine barrels and South America's candi sugar.
Pope Francis will grace the City of Brotherly Love on Sept. 26-27 as part of the weeklong World Meeting of Families conference for Roman Catholics.