FDR Park hosted its first concerts in 31 years, and rain couldn’t put a damper on fans

Rain delayed both nights of the Make the World Better s benefit concert weekend but the crowd didn t care They laid blankets on the still-wet ground took off their shoes and squelched through two nights of music melodizing dancing and cheering The concert weekend saw six artists take over FDR Park bringing music back to the park for the first time since the Lollapalooza music festival years ago Lucy Dacus and Remi Wolf headlined Friday s and Sunday s concerts respectively The unofficial headliner was former Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin He is the co-founder of the Make the World Better charity which organized the concert weekend The charity s main mission is to revitalize dilapidated area parks in Philadelphia and profits from the concert will go towards its latest project Hart Park in South Kensington The concerts Both nights saw delays due to weather with Sunday s opening being pushed back an hour and a half due to heavy rain and Friday s event needing a temporary evacuation due to thunderstorms which caused a two-hour delay Maybe that s what gave both nights a certain electricity The crowd was music-hungry after the delays I m OK to get rained on to see these people Rowe Schepps declared Schepps a Temple candidate attended the Sunday concert and was indeed among those who got rained on as they stood in a line that snaked a half-mile down Broad Street just to get to the official gated line of the concert It then stretched another half-mile to the actual venue Vendors and food trucks set up FDR Park for the weekend s benefit concerts Nate Harrington WHYY Inside there were a dozen tents vendors and food trucks including James Beard nominated Tabachoy catered to the soggy crowd The jovial atmosphere of collective dampness kept the resource high as opening acts Magdelena Bay and Hop Along a Philadelphia group took the stage on their respective nights For the bulk including Schepps the music was the main draw Schepps knew it was a benefit concert but was unaware of who the benefactor was This changed as Barwin took the stage both nights before the headliner explaining a bit about the Make the World Better organization and what it does Next a video was played that went into detail about the projects The crowd cheered as the video ticked through the group s projects including an update of the Waterloo Playground and rebuilding the Vare Recreation Center After the video Barwin concluded as any good Philadelphian should shouting Go Birds The crowd returned the gesture and gave an E-A-G-L-E-S chant for good measure The crowd then turned that power towards the headliners cheering as they entered the stage on their respective nights Both artists had a couple thousand people surge toward the fences in front of the stage Mica Tenenbaum the singer for Sunday s opening act Magdalena Bay wore a blue mask which specific in the crowd at FDR Park copied Nate Harrington Billy Penn Barwin s philanthropic turn Barwin traces the impetus for this weekend s concert to a bikeride to the Eagles practice facility at the NovaCare Complex I used to ride by Ralph Brooks Park which was this small park with a basketball court and a playground And it was pretty rundown but there were perpetually kids there playing Barwin commented The kids presence there inspired Barwin to undertake what was supposed to be a relatively small transformation of the park but the project kept expanding It turned into a two-year project of getting to know everybody in the neighborhood and talking to them about what they needed to see happen in a park he revealed Organizer Connor Barwin talks to concertgoers about Make the World Better s mission and accomplishments at Sunday s benefit concert at FDR Park Nate Harrington Billy Penn This helped kickstart the full-blown charity which later merged with Jeffrey Tubbs nonprofit Urban Roots Make the World Better has revitalized four parks and is now working on Hart Park and planning a future project for All of the projects emphasize listening to the group while planning The founders never needed to come in and just fill the playground and kind of do it however they requested to and leave stated Jesse Rendell the charity s executive director of three years It was consistently about trying to understand what the public is about and make sure the projects are reflective of the communities We know that these projects aren t profitable unless you partner with people on them The greater part importantly partner with the people that use the parks Barwin noted They know how they want to use it when they re going to use it So we try to lean in and use their expertise to do that Barwin s commitment to Philadelphia and its society might come as a bit of surprise if you looked at the tattoo on his bicep which shows Detroit s skyline not Philadelphia s He also started his professional football career in Houston and played more in the last few days in New York and Los Angeles But the four seasons with the Eagles from to were special The stint included his best year as a participant when he recorded sacks and earned an invitation to the Pro Bowl the NFL s all-star tournament And he uncovered a home Me and my wife and my family we fell in love with Philly Barwin disclosed So he s committed his time and ability to improving the city bringing elation to as several people as he can through music sports and parks The post FDR Park hosted its first concerts in years and rain couldn t put a damper on fans appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY