This is the 76th year the Mann has been staging live music in the park. This year, the season is opening earlier than usual with its first ever, FREE family festival called Philly on Parade scheduled for all day Saturday, May 21st.
Catherine Cahill, President & CEO of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts says, "The gates are open to everyone from 11-6. We will have four stages on our campus running simultaneously throughout the day, featuring over 800 artists from the Philadelphia area covering all possible genres from family music to world music to orchestral music."
PBS' beloved character, Raggs, will be there, along with the Philadelphia Boys Choir, Rennie Harris, Enon Tabernacle Baptist Choir and the Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble.
'Here in our pavilion, we're going to have a series of children's activities for families. We're going to have face painting. We're going to have a circus. We're going to have all kinds of arts and crafts. Here on our own stage, we're going to have Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. We're going to have the Urban Guerilla Orchestra. We're going to have a jazz combo down on our Peco Plaza," said Cahill.
On Friday, May 27th, the Mann will kick off the long Memorial Day weekend with country legend, Willie Nelson, making the first stop on his 2nd annual Country Throwdown Tour, a mix of top country music stars and emerging artists.
Cahill added, "It's a full festival day. We're going to have multiple stages, again, with talent starting at 3:30 culminating with the icon, the country genius, the country wizard, none other than Willie Nelson here at the Mann."
Go to http://manncenter.org for tickets to the Willie Nelson Country Throwdown and for a full list of the Philly on Parade free family festival lineup.
