Philly-area happenings that give us some hope for 2025

The first few weeks of January are such a slog that it always feels like I have permanent jet lag without all the fun of getting to go somewhere.

I haven’t done anything yet, but I’m already exhausted. I’m in a whole new time (2025) but I still feel like I’m in my old time zone (RIP 2024). Plus, I’m dehydrated, wearing comfy pants, and carrying around bags (under my eyes).

This January feels particularly tough, with its many knowns and its many more unknowns. None of us can say what 2025 will hold, except a lot moments that’ll have us texting: “What the ducking duck?”

So I’ve compiled this list of things in the Philly area that you — and I — can look forward to in 2025. Will I do them all? Absolutely not. Will I do half? Let’s not get overzealous. But I will do some of them, and just knowing that people are out there doing all of these things brings me a good bit of hope for this new year.

(Dates are subject to change. Check related websites for updates.)

Two sitcoms, nothing alike in dignity,

In fair Philadelphia where we lay our scene.

The casts of two of the most successful — and wildly divergent — comedy series on television, both of which are set in Philly, meet in a crossover episode titled “Volunteers” on Wednesday that’s sure to be full of wit (and not witout a few Philly references).

The conniving, unscrupulous bar staff of Paddy’s Pub in South Philly, the personification of Philly’s id, head to Willard R. Abbott Elementary in West Philly where they meet the school’s firm but kind educators, who embody Philadelphia’s superego.

(Philly is large. It contains multitudes. We can eat rum ham and plant community gardens.)

Trash talking is sure to ensue (William Stanford Davis and Danny DeVito literally call each other trash in a preview), and there’s certainly going to be enough BPE — Big Philly Energy — to go around.

The episode airs 8:30 p.m. Wednesday on ABC and streams on Hulu the next day. The cast of Abbott Elementary will appear in a future follow-up episode of It’s Always Sunny, the date of which has not been released.

Delco (a.k.a. Delaware County), “The champagne of ‘burbs,” has its own county flags, its own beer, and its own way of life, and on Jan. 17, it will get another feather in its faded Eagles cap — its own movie.

The independent film from Delco native Chris Pierdomenico is about three high school seniors in 2004 who decide to live a day “the Delco way.” The movie was shot over 11 days at places like the Springfield Presbyterian Church, Wawa, and the Brookhaven Police Department.

A red carpet premiere at the Media Theatre on Jan. 17 will be attended by the cast and crew, including Brian O’Halloran, who plays a pastor (and played Dante Hicks in the Clerks franchise) and Philly native Brian Anthony Wilson, who played Det. Vernon Holley on The Wire.

The opening is “black-tie optional,” Pierdomenico said. “I imagine some people may be going in tuxes and some in Crocs.”

Tickets for public screenings of the film at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Jan. 18 and 3 p.m. Jan. 19 are available at mediatheatre.org. Q&A sessions with the main cast will take place after every screening.

“Seeing the film with a live audience, I’m terrified of it on one hand but I’m also just really, really excited,” Pierdomenico said.

The movie isn’t rated but Pierdomenico told me he’d give it a PG-13 (which is the rating I’d give the actual Delco too).

Pierdomenico said folks should stick around for the credits, where they may catch a glimpse “about what happens next in the Delco cinematic universe.”

I know enough to know the only thing I should say about this is Go, Birds.

Speaking of birds, there’s at least one in our area that’s certain to be on fire in February — the 25-foot phoenix the people of Phoenixville painstakingly build out of wood just to watch it burn to the ground.

Now in its 21st year, the Phoenixville Firebird Festival, which is typically held in December, was rescheduled to Feb. 1 due to the Chester County burn ban that was in effect through Dec. 26 because of last year’s drought watch.

Helmed by Denmark native Henrik Stubbe Teglbjaerg, the festival draws thousands to Veterans Memorial Park for a warm and wild celebration that includes live music, food, and fire artists (breathers, dancers, guys in gladiator costumes who wield flaming swords, etc.).

The event, which is free, culminates at 8 p.m., with the lighting of the phoenix, which is particularly stunning this year with its massive, outstretched wingspan.

It’s no secret I’m a massive fan of Germantown artist Kambel Smith, whose work I’ve followed since I first wrote about him in 2019.

A self-taught artist who sees his autism as the superpower it is, Smith, now 38, builds intricate and massive sculptures of real buildings in Philly and around the world (from City Hall to the Sydney Opera House). He does it entirely freehand, in lightening speed, and with the simplest of materials — cardboard, duct tape, foil, and spray paint.

Every time I write about Smith, readers ask where they can see his work in person, so I was excited when his dad, Lonnie, told me Kambel has an upcoming show at the Germantown Historical Society from March 29 to June 28, where many of his pieces — including a new sculpture of the Nugent Home for Baptists (which borders Germantown and Mount Airy) — will be shown.

While the exhibit will mostly feature Smith’s Philly sculptures, organizers also hope to hold pop-up displays in the outdoor courtyard of the 26-foot Burj Khalifa Smith built last year.

Tuomi Forrest, executive director of Historic Germantown, said the society is very excited to host such a talented artist who lives just a few blocks away.

“He’s an interpreter and critic of our built environment in a really interesting way and I can appreciate the genius of his work,” Forrest said.

Gallery hours are from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and by appointment. Admission is free.

As a dinosaur devotee since childhood (team triceratops!), I’ve been excited about this dino museum and dig-it-yourself-fossil experience in Mantua, N.J., since I first heard whispers of it years ago.

Along with full-scale reconstructions of dinosaurs, VR experiences that put you in the Cretaceous period, and live animal exhibits, the park will offer an opportunity to dig for your own fossils in a nearby quarry where more than 100,000 fossils dating back as far as 66 million years have already been found (just call me Ellie Sattler and give me a damn chisel right now).

The Edelman is in good hands with its founding executive director, Kenneth Lacovara, a local paleontologist who discovered a new species of dinosaur, the 85-foot-long Dreadnoughtus schrani, in Patagonia in 2005 (interviewing Lacovara with Dreadnoughtus’ skeleton in the room remains one of the top 10 journalistic experiences of my career).

The opening of the $73 million park and museum has already been pushed back twice, so here’s to hoping the third time is a charm.

The show is called the “Bigger & Weirder Tour” and the opening act is Puddles Pity Party.

I’ll be bringing “My Bologna” and my “Polka Face” and I hope to see all my fellow Philly weirdos there.

Before Philly celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year, this fall it will celebrate the 250th birthday of the Navy and Marine Corps, both of which were founded in Philadelphia in 1775.

According to the website for Homecoming 250, the group organizing the events, Navy ships will be brought to the Delaware River for tours, the Blue Angels will do a flyover of Independence Hall, and there will be a ball, parades, concerts, demonstrations, exhibits, reenactments, and veteran gatherings. A party to toast the dedication of The Tun, a planned recreation of the Old City tavern where the Marine Corps was founded, is also scheduled.

Fans will have to tune in to see if Kate Winslet makes a cameo as Mare Sheehan, which Ruffalo teased could happen during an interview with Deadline last year.