🎭 Your guide to Philly’s Fringe Festival | Things to Do

Hey!

Well, Labor Day has passed — the weather hasn’t gotten the hint that summer’s essentially over and it should cool down a bit. The heat isn’t slowing any of us down, though, because there are so many fun festivals, concerts, and exhibits to explore in the coming weeks that I don’t think you’ll want to miss!

This weekend, watch experimental theater at the Fringe Festival, dance along to live music at Feria del Barrio, check out Shaggy and Sting’s one-day music festival, and sample delicious food at Latin America Thrives.

Plus, a reminder: I’m looking for YOUR thing! There are so many incredible activities and venues in and around the city and I’m inviting you to submit your thing-to-do — a single recommendation for an event, an exhibit, a show, anything you’d like to suggest to our community of arts-and-culture seekers reading this newsletter. We plan to feature your thing-to-do in an upcoming newsletter and I can’t wait to see all the cool stuff you share.

📮 Send me 200 words on your thing, and be sure to include a photo!

— Rosa Cartagena (@_RosaCartagena, Email me at thingstodo@inquirer.com)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

The Fringe Festival kicks off today, with 314 shows over the coming weeks showcasing the breadth and creativity of Philly’s vibrant theater scene. There will be circus performers, cabaret dancers, drag queens, comedians, and singers; you can see a number of shows about life, sex, death, anger, disability, queerness, Blackness, and Latinidad, among various other meditations on the human condition. My biggest recommendation: Bring an open mind. We previewed the festival’s headliners; consulted some Fringe Fest participants for a guide on what to watch; and broke down some of the wacky and cool offerings at the Cannonball festival hub.

🌮 Come hungry: The Latin America Thrives Festival this year includes a food contest, a look at traditional Venezuelan fashion, live music, and more. There will be 19 delicious food stands to choose from, including Taqueria Morales, El Patio, La Caleñita Bakery, and many more at Love Park on Friday.

🌊 Head to the river: The family-friendly Delaware River Festival will be this Saturday in Philly (at Penn’s Landing) and Camden (at Wiggins Park). Explore museums, take a ferry ride, get into a pedal boat, or try a scavenger hunt.

🎤 Unlikely pairing: Sting and Shaggy have been making music together in recent years and now their surprising bromance will headline a one-day festival — also featuring Tank & the Bangas, Koffee, and Thundercat — at the Mann Center on Saturday.

🪘 Get out and dance: Now in its 39th year, Feria del Barrio will bring food, music, arts, and crafts to El Centro de Oro neighborhood on Sunday to celebrate Latin American cultures from Puerto Rico to Venezuela to Colombia — and the events are totally free.

🏈 A holiday, for some: Football season officially kicks off today. Here’s everything you need to know about the Kansas City vs. Detroit game tonight.

📅 My calendar picks this week: Break out your disco moves at Glitterbox Philadelphia; catch a glimpse of bats at the Woodlands; get a fresh batch of mushrooms at the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival.

This week, I’ve been immersed in writing our upcoming Fall Arts Guide and I can tell you there are really incredible and awesome things happening in and around the city this season. What plays, exhibits, festivals, or installations are you most excited to see? Let me know!

Here are four new exhibits on my radar, all centering contemporary art from really fascinating perspectives:

🎨 “Containing Multitudes: Anne Minich’s Head Series, 1974 - 2023″ runs through Oct. 28 at Commonweal Gallery. (Minich’s Judas Judged, Maria Martyred: An Arranged Marriage, 1991 is pictured above.)

🎨 “David Antonio Cruz: When the Children Come Home” runs through Dec. 17 at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

🎨 “Chelsey Luster: Finding Home” runs through Oct. 15 at Vox Populi Gallery.

🎨 “Live laugh lobotomize” from Yuyang Zhang runs through Oct. 15 at Fuller Rosen Gallery.

📚 Curl up with your next read: From Zadie Smith’s latest to an essay collection from the scathing and unapologetic writer Myriam Gurba, we rounded up 11 great books to read this month.

🍗 A ye olde guide: If you’re heading to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, you may be wondering how to navigate the sea of lances, turkey legs, and costumes. My coworker Stephanie Farr went and has a guide to what to see and what to skip.

🍻 Special brews: Oktober is coming up (technically the hoppy fest starts this month) and we’ve got a look at 21 Philly beers to celebrate Oktoberfest.

🍂 Snap a pic: Looking for fall foliage? Leaf-peeping season is upon us and we’ve got a list of the best places to see foliage in the Philly area.

🎥 The cashmere queen on screen: You’ve been to the show, you’ve got your friendship bracelet, and now you can experience it all again in a theater near you. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film will be out in October.

🥘 New and noteworthy: From a celebrity steakhouse to a new bagel shop, here are 60 new restaurants opening in Philly this fall that we can’t wait to try.

Which of these is NOT the title of a show you can see at Philly’s Fringe Festival?

A) Dildos and Body Parts

B) Macbeth in a Bar

C) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

D) Circus Phantasmagoria

📮 To let me know which of the above is correct, write me back.

This week, I finally binge-watched Andor, and I have no idea why I waited so long to watch it! Yes, I cried (not surprising) and I’ve already got my sights on Ahsoka because I’m obsessed with all the Star Wars spin off shows. Any Star Wars fans here? Let me know your favorite character!