The 11-day event to celebrate the Fourth of July kicked off Friday with the Taste of Philadelphia at Penn's Landing.
This year it is bigger and better than ever before, with 25 restaurants taking part. It's a chance to sample some of the best food in the city, both traditional Philly fare and flavors from far away.
"We have jerk chicken, the real stuff," said Lisa Wilson of the Jamaican Jerk Hut.
You can ride the cheese steak express with Steaks on South , taste the meatballs from Marabella Meatball or have yourself a hot dog from Dapper Dog!
"We're serving meatball sliders, both beef and chicken. Our beef is our specialty of the house," said Judy Marabella of the Marabella Meatball Co.
This year, Dapper Dog is one of the food truck vendors taking part for the first time in the Taste of Philadelphia.
"We kind of made our name as a late night food vendor," said Dapper Dog's Seth Russell.
"It gets a lot of people that normally wouldn't come by, since we do late night . They never get to to taste it [otherwise]," said Melanie Johnson of Wawa Welcome America.
And for the first time, the event has expanded two blocks over the Chestnut Street bridge and there's a second music stage.
Bernard Simpkins of Germantown told Action News he didn't want to be anywhere else.
"I've seen some of the brochures. I haven't really looked through it thoroughly but there are a lot of exciting things happening."
Click here for a full schedule of Wawa Welcome America events.
