🏳️‍🌈 🎤Ready for Philly Pride + Roots Picnic Weekend?| Things to Do

Welcome to what may be one of the busiest weekends in Philly this season. There’s the Roots Picnic, Philly Pride, the Philly Run Fest, Bike-A-Thon, and more taking over Center City, Fairmount Park, and elsewhere — so look out for potential traffic headaches.

— Rosa Cartagena (@_RosaCartagena, Email me at [email protected])

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It’s Philly Pride Weekend! See the 600-foot-long Pride flag as it’s carried past historical LGBTQ landmarks on Friday, party at the Art Museum on Saturday, and wear your best and brightest rainbows for the Philly Pride March and Festival on Sunday. Catch up on all the fun events.

🧺 Don’t miss it: The Roots Picnic brings a killer lineup to the Mann Center this weekend with Meek Mill, Lenny Kravitz, GloRilla, Tems, and dozens more. Pop music critic Dan DeLuca explains who you should see out of over 40 acts.

🪦 Morbidly curious: Laurel Hill Cemetery has long served as an arts and music venue, but this weekend will see something totally new — the first-ever Philadelphia Death and Arts Festival.

🪕 Walk and listen: The beloved West Philly Porchfest returns on Saturday with dozens of bands playing music across the neighborhood, all for free.

💃 Must watch: It’s the last weekend to see the Tony-winning Some Like It Hot — a musical adaptation of Marilyn Monroe’s classic 1959 film — at the Forrest Theatre. Come for the story you know, stay for the excellent choreography and talented performers.

🏎️ Fast and furious: The shiny, brand new game spot F1 Arcade opens in Center City today with 80 high-tech racing simulators in a swanky lounge. Read why my colleague Stephanie Farr says it’s worth the hype.

🎭 If you’re near Allentown: The classic Greek epic poem The Odyssey gets a different kind of adaptation in Penelope, a one-woman musical retelling the story through the perspective of Odysseus’ neglected and overlooked wife at DeSales University.

📅 My calendar picks this week: Shuckfest 2025, Devon Horse Show & County Fair, Latino Arts & Film Festival

The one and only Sapphira Cristál — Philly’s opera singing drag queen who was named Miss Congeniality on last year’s season of RuPaul’s Drag Race — is kicking off Pride weekend with two special performances titled after the nickname she earned on the show: slue-foot. The funny and talented diva will bring “One Slue Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” to Punch Line Comedy Club for two showings on Saturday, May 31.

🕰️ Cinderella story: Teen curfews are being implemented across Shore towns from Ocean City to Wildwood this summer. We break down what you need to know.

👟 Reader recommended: It’s a great time to get outside and explore the region’s many hiking trails. We asked readers to tell us which trails they love the most.

🌳 Blue views: One of the best places to hang out during the summer just opened up — Spruce Street Harbor Park. The waterfront spot offers hammocks, DJs, and more fun all season long.

👨‍🍳 Shore eats: Chef Leslie Daniel, who goes by Chef Too Hype, is a big name in the Atlantic City dining scene (and a Food Network star). He gave us his personal recs for where to eat along the Jersey Shore.

🎤 Fun duo: After unlikely musical pair Sting and Shaggy hosted a Philly festival in 2023, they’ve teamed up again to bring One Fine Day back to the Mann Center later this year. Here’s what we know so far.

Today’s recommendation comes from classical music critic Peter Dobrin:

🎻 Sunday: See Tristan und Isolde at Marian Anderson Hall on June 1 and June 8. It’s often called one of the great achievements of Western art, and yet Opera Philadelphia has never touched it. The last time the Philadelphia Orchestra performed a full version of the opera was in 1934, with Fritz Reiner conducting. Now it’s finally here, with highly regarded Wagnerians Nina Stemme as Isolde and Stuart Skelton singing Tristan, no less. Led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin in a concert version, the Philadelphia Orchestra performs the work twice, both matinees (with a running time of 4 ½ hours including two intermissions).

This week I think I’m finally going to start watching The Last of Us. What’s keeping you entertained these days? Let me know!