PHILADEPHIA – The City of Brotherly Love is inviting
residents and visitors to make lifelong memories at Wawa Welcome America! from
July 1 to July 7, 2013.
The festival attendees seven days of free, family-friendly
events, including the weekend after the Fourth of July, and “will prove why
Philadelphia is the only place to celebrate America’s birthday,” according to a
press release by Mayor Michael Nutter’s office.
Philly.com reports that as part of the celebration on July
2, dubbed Wawa Hoagie Day, folks can stop by the Independence Visitor Center to
feast on a free 4.5-ton hoagie. “Yes, that's 9,000 pounds of Italian meats,
convenience-store cheese and Philly sammich fixins,” notes the news source.
"Thank Wawa for making this the No. 1 party in the
United States of America," Nutter told Philly.com. "You can celebrate
it in other places, but there's no place like Philadelphia to celebrate the
Fourth of July."
A star-studded line-up of musicians performing for free
throughout the week include Grammy-winning artists John Mayer and Ne-Yo, The
Roots, Jill Scott, Demi Lovato, Grace Potter, J. Cole, and Ben Taylor, son of
James Taylor and Carly Simon.
Nutter also commented that this year's celebration promises
to be special because it is the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation
Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil Rights
Movement.