Sick of the same old summer night dinner and drinks routine?
Enter Parks on Tap. Philadelphia’s traveling beer garden is back for the summer, making its way to 20 parks in 20 weeks. Even if you don't drink alcohol (or aren't 21), there are virgin cocktails—even slushies. Yes.
Parks on Tap started last year as the brainchild of Philly Parks and Rec and the Fairmount Parks Conservancy. The organizations wanted to bring together communities and bring a new vibrancy to neighborhood parks. The fest officially began on May 17 and kicked off with appearances in Love Park and Jefferson Square.
The festival features seven draft beers on tap, including a pale ale, a hard cider, IPAs, lagers, and pale ales with fruit infusions. But Parks on Tap also has plenty of boozy goodness for those of us who aren’t self-professed beer snobs. The garden’s menu features an on-tap rosè and frozen beer cocktails—made either alcoholic with ginger beer or virgin with root beer—with a slushy lime, lemonade or watermelon base topped off with your choice of vodka, tequila, whisky or rum (or just plain-Jane).
While you have to technically have to be 21 to partake in the fest’s namesake activities, fret not. Parks on Tap also features a smorgasbord of yummy food snacks and non- alcoholic drinks, as well as a hammock area for you to pass out in after that third mini slider or made-to-order locally sourced smoked sandwich. Everything is under $10, so whether you’re drinking up or chowing down you won’t break the bank.
Parks on Tap also hosts a slew of activities, including boot–camps and workouts for you to earn that third IPA, live music on Sundays, a performance series on Thursdays, Logan Circle happy hours on Wednesdays and other one-day pop-up events. Check here for the full schedule.
Parks on Tap will be closest to Penn over the summer at Matthias Baldwin Park from Jun 7 to 11, Paine’s Park from Jun 21 to 25, Schuylkill Banks from Jul 12 to 16 and at Clark Park in Spruce Hill from Aug 23 to 27. But no need to second–guess choosing your internship over working on campus just yet, ‘cause Parks on Tap will be up and running until the first week of October.
