Prime time for the Fourth
This weekend brings the culmination of the Sunoco Welcome America! festivities, featuring outdoor concerts with Sheryl Crow and Peter Nero as fireworks light up the Philadelphia skyline.
Today through Sunday
From noon to 5 p.m. today through Sunday at Penn's Landing, ice cream lovers can visit the Super Scooper All-You-Can-Eat Ice Cream Festival. Samples of ice creams and water ice are available for $5.
Independence Mall will be the site of a celebration of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, which is cosponsored by The Inquirer. Lincoln 200 will offer roaming Lincoln-era characters talking about his times, playing the music of his era, doing reenactments, and showing off various Philadelphia museums' caches of Lincolnia, including a locket with a lock of his hair and an 1864 Lincoln campaign pin. Lincoln 200 is scheduled 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. today through Sunday. All its events are free.
Tonight
From 8:30 to 10 is the Pops on Independence concert, featuring Nero and the Philly Pops offering a free show on Independence Mall.
Saturday
The actual Fourth of July is the big day for Welcome America!
The activities begin with Mayor Nutter hosting the traditional Independence Day ceremony at Independence Hall from 10 to 11 a.m. That will be followed by the 2009 Independence Day Parade around Center City, mostly along Chestnut and Market Streets near Independence Mall. There will be floats, drum and bugle corps, reenactment groups, marching bands, and active military organizations - a patriotic extravaganza.
Following the parade, there will be a huge birthday celebration, with cake for all, at the Independence Visitor Center at 12:30 p.m., and the annual Liberty Bell tapping ceremony by descendants of the signers of the Declaration of Independence at 1:30 p.m.
The annual Party on the Parkway will take place from noon to 6 p.m. - primarily family-oriented with face-painting, Radio Disney recording artist Joey Page, zoo exhibitions, sand-sculpting, salsa dancing, and the usual multicultural performances, food vendors, and arts and crafts.
Stick around: At 8 p.m., the highlight concert will be on Eakins Oval with country-pop recording star Sheryl Crow and The Roots; fireworks follow. Over in the distance, the Peco Crown Lights, the new LED display atop the Peco building, will flash its own special Fourth of July show.
Sunday
In addition to the All-You-Can-Eat ice cream fiesta, there will be Fam Jams from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Great Plaza on Penn's Landing, with kid-oriented music, some performed by Camp Rock star Meaghan Martin.
For more information and a schedule of events, go to 215-683-2200, www.welcomeamerica.com.
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