May 01, 2025

Broad Street Run and South Street Live!: Your weekend guide to things to do

The first Eraserhood Fest will also bring music, beer and David Lynch tribues to Callowhill.

By Kristin Hunt
PhillyVoice Staff

Provided image/Kscope Philly

Brauhaus Schmitz will host a Maifest celebration Saturday. The event is part of South Street Live!

The open streets initiative on West Walnut may be over for the time being, but two festivals will welcome crowds onto the blacktop this weekend.

Vendors, cosplayers and performers will take over a nine-block stretch of South Street during Saturday's mega-festival that celebrates multiple occasions (Derby Day and Maifest, to name a few). The new Eraserhood Fest also will bring art and custom beer to 10th and Wood streets Friday. This ode to Callowhill doubles as a tribute to David Lynch, the late director who once called the neighborhood home. So yes, things will get surreal.

Racers take their marks Sunday for the Broad Street Run, and in Bucks County, the curtain is rising on a new musical that combines carnival acts and Americana lore:

Watch the Broad Street Run

It's way too late to claim a bib for the Independence Blue Cross Broad Street Run, but you can cheer on the runners participating Sunday morning. The pack will depart from the athletic field Central High School at 7 a.m., trekking across North Philly, Center City and South Philly until reaching the finish line at the Navy Yard. It's a 10-mile route and up to 40,000 runners are expected.

Celebrate Callowhill and its famous resident

Still mourning the death of David Lynch? Take a pilgrimage to the neighborhood that inspired the director's debut film "Eraserhead" for Friday night's festival. The inaugural Eraserhood Fest pays tribute to Lynch with a musical and acrobatic performance by the Cherry Pie Collective, set against a backdrop of surrealist visuals. There will also be a community art project led by Mural Arts, a craft marketplace and a beverage garden with drinks from Triple Bottom Brewing and Love City Brewing, which will have plenty of its Eraserhood Hazy IPA on hand for the occasion. Stop by from 5-11 p.m.

See a musical about carnies and Johnny Appleseed

A show opening Friday at the Bucks County Playhouse will take you back to 1800s Coney Island. In "Apple Boys," the grandson of Johnny Appleseed turns to a bunch of Brooklyn carnies for help saving his family's orchard. The theater promises a "musical comedy roller coaster," starting at $32 per ticket.

Choose your own adventure on South Street

Want to buy some new vinyl? Or drink a stein of German beer? Or dress in your Ren Faire best? You can do all of these and a whole lot more Saturday on South Street. The corridor's massive South Street Live! festival will offer a very different vibe on each of the nine blocks between Front and Eighth streets. There's a fantasy Renaissance Faire outside Queen & Rook, a Derby Day party at Twisted Tail, a Maifest at Brauhaus Schmitz and tons of art, shopping, skateboarding and music in between.

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