April 28, 2025
Kristin Hunt/for PhillyVoice
The original 'yarn bombing' art installation by the Philadelphia Drunken Knitwits at the Singing Fountain in East Passyunk disappeared earlier in April. The crafting group rallied the community to rebuild it.
The Singing Fountain in East Passyunk was hit with a new "yarn bombing" three weeks after the last public art display was vandalized.
The collection of knitted food items made its debut at the neighborhood's Flavors on the Avenue festival Sunday. The cloth treats are the work of the Philadelphia Drunken Knitwits, the crafting group that gained attention for its work at Cherry Street Pier, Fitler Square and, most recently, the South Philly plaza. Strings of knitted pizza and cannoli now decorate its benches and a sprinkled soft serve inside a Phillies baseball helmet sits atop the Free Little Library. Dumplings, cheesesteak and pretzels dot the nearby street signs and ironwork. The deceptively non-edible treats will remain up until Saturday, May 10.
Slices of pizza hang from one of the benches at the Singing Fountain.
Kristin Hunt/for PhillyVoice
The crafters draped cannoli over another bench.
Kristin Hunt/for PhillyVoice
Two knitted security cameras also hang from the plaza's trees, in a tongue-in-cheek nod to what happened to the original display. The Philadelphia Drunken Knitwits had outfitted the fountain's cherubs and storks with custom tunics and Philly sports gear in March on commission from South Philly Yarn and Craft, but their creations disappeared overnight in early April. Nearby shop owners captured footage of two women cutting the yarn bombing apart and bagging the pieces on surveillance cameras.
The Philadelphia Drunken Knitwits referenced the vandalism that took down the original display with cloth security cameras.
While the crafters pleaded with the unidentified suspects to return the work, no questions asked, it never materialized. So the group turned to the public for help rebuilding the installation. The Philadelphia Drunken Knitwits asked other hobbyists to create crocheted or knitted items for a food-themed display in honor of Flavors on the Avenue. Craftship, a vendor in the Bok Building, also hosted an open crafting night to help the effort.
A cheesesteak with 'extra wiz' displayed on a Singing Fountain plaza street sign.
The fruits (and sandwiches) of their labor are now on display. Though none of the new pieces touch the actual Singing Fountain, remnants of the original outfits remain. In an apparent reference to the Flyers sweater the crafters made for one of the fountain's storks, a wide-eyed Gritty now stares maniacally from a decorative iron orb.
The original yarn bombing included Flyers, Eagles and Phillies sweaters for the Singing Fountain's iron storks. Gritty is still part of the new installation.
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