Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts Presents STREET FAIR, 4/27

Get ready PIFA 2013 lovers - the Street Fair is back! As with the inaugural Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts in 2011, the finale of PIFA 2013 brings artistry and family fun full circle, in the day-long outdoor experience known as the PIFA STREET FAIR. The culminating event of the 31-day festival takes place Saturday, April 27th, 2013, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Kimmel Center will once again close Broad Street from Chestnut to South Street for a traditional Street Fair - a throwback to a carnivalesque atmosphere with interactive family fun festivities, fantastical and unique street performers, visual excitement, attractions and music for all ages with no gate charge.

More than 60 vendors will be providing a variety of food, artisan's work and exhibits. Garces' Guapos Tacos, Anthony's Italian Ice, Parc and the Surf and Turf Truck and of course, popcorn, cotton candy, ice cream and hot dogs are some of the food offerings (full list below).

This time around, traveling musicians will perform along the street - an assortment of jazz, blue grass and Americana, Brazilian music -roaming through the crowds. Visitors, wherever they wander, will encounter magical and wondrous surprises and fantastical characters. Crisscrossing the history of time from the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth to the era of robotics and technology, the 2013 Street Fair highlights include some favorites from the first Street Fair- the return of the Giant Ferris Wheel ($5 pp); the fascinating Fountain Lady-as well as a generous sprinkling of Bagpipers, Monks, Knights, Give and Take Jugglers, and Post-Apocalyptic Stilt-Walkers.

But that only touches the surface.
Have kids? From the days when giants roamed the earth, comes a Dinosaur Petting Zoo in front of the Kimmel Center, with both animatronic and puppet dinos, including a LIFE-SIZED T-Rex (18 feet tall and 40 feet long), elevated jungle gym structures including a Kid's Obstacle Course ($5 pp) and two adult/family Obstacle Courses ($10 pp) and this year, TWO full and gorgeously abundant grass parks on Broad Street - Clock Park and Compass Park. Visit the nautical area and hop aboard the giant swinging Galleon ($5 pp), sure to excite any seafaring lovers. Kids of all ages will thrill to PIFA's own Rock It Robot -a nine-foot tall electronic costumed performer - a sweet giant certain to win the hearts of audiences of any age, who will pose with kids and attendees for a special photo... Bugs clothed in exquisite costumes hand woven out of basketry materials who present a magical world of transformation, and Cirikli Stilt Birds -- tall, graceful, fully articulated wooden puppets controlled by skilled stilt performers. Led by their ever-watching Shepherd, these animated birds interact with their audience - a gentle head tilt, or the graceful movement of a feathery crest or inquisitive beak will take your audience's breath away.

For music lovers' movin' and groovin' pleasure this year, PIFA's got Blackbird Society Orchestra, Philadelphia's Premier 1920s Hot Jazz / Dance Orchestra dedicated to the preservation of the music of "The Jazz Age," "The Roaring 20s," with Flappers, Prohibition, Gangsters, Model A's, and the invention of an American art form known as "Jazz;" the Coral Creek String Band, a genre-bending group who play unique renditions of traditional bluegrass tunes and Americana classics, including the original music of Chris Thompson (guitar/vocals) and featuring some of the top acoustic players in the Colorado music scene; the Barbershop Quartet Faces 4 Radio, and you won't want to miss the earth-shaking rhythms of Brazilian music with Philly Bloco.

Additional highlights include performance areas for the Jabali African Acrobats - exemplifying the link between athletics and the arts, as incredible acrobatics, contortions, tumbling, human pyramids, and chair balancing skill of these performers turns to dance, with the Congo Snake Dance, the Flaming Limbo Bar Dance, Skip Rope Footwork techniques and comedy to electrifying music - and best of all, audience participation! Zo Prod - Konstructors - an artists' collective from Poiters, France of performers, musicians, visual artists, welders, metal manufacturers, and decorative artisans who use found objects, metals, and other industrial and construction materials to create new works. Design and construction will be improvised in front of the live audience - of course using the PIFA 2013 theme, "If you had a Time Machine..." to inspire this performance of Konstructors and create public art unique to this festival.

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