A 10-day festival that celebrates design

DESIGN IS "the thread that runs through everything in life," says Hilary Jay, founder and director of DesignPhiladelphia, the seventh annual local festival that celebrates and studies how everything from neighborhoods to a hairdo is dreamed up and made. The 10-day affair kicks off Thursday.

Here's our must-do list:

Opening night has art exhibits, food trucks and wall projections at Vox Populi (319 N. 11th St., 7-9 p.m.) and a burlesque hair show by Richard Nicholas at the Trestle Inn (339 N. 11th St., performance at 8 p.m.). Friday, BetterBlocksPhilly begins a week of performances and pop-ups in a temporary green space bounded by 17th, 18th, Christian and Catharine streets (party 6-10 p.m.; events through Oct. 21).

To see what all the Reading Viaduct fuss is about, join a walking tour of secret gardens starting at 22nd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday. All day Sunday, Mural Arts sponsors a citywide "Phaberge" papier-mache egg hunt (visit pharberge.com for more details). And from noon to 3:30 p.m., Trophy Bikes will take you on a 10-mile tour of little-known Philadelphia for $5 (R.S.V.P. mcget@aol.com).

Four-foot pieces of sidewalk chalk are yours for the drawing at 5 p.m. Oct. 18 at Café Cret, 16th and the Parkway. On Oct. 19, Moko salon in Old City pays homage to the pompadour from 6:30 to 9 p.m., and an empty lot at 313 S. Broad comes alive with performances, videos and exhibitions from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily till the festival's over. On Oct. 20, Love Park becomes a scene for turning plastic bags into floating art, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

On the festival's final day, Oct. 23, see a historic and shiny collection of cars and artist Michael Furman's spectacular photographs of them at the Simeone Museum (6825-31 Norwitch Dr., 215-365-7523, simeone museum. org), then party like it's 1984 at 7 p.m. with a fleet of barely clad models having their hair teased by local stylists at National Mechanics (22 S. 3rd St.). For more events and info, visit designPhiladelphia.org.

- Lauren McCutcheon