Two Philadelphia summer events canceled as gun violence escalates

Two community summer events in Philadelphia have been canceled because of escalating gun violence in the city.

City Councilmember Cindy Bass on Wednesday announced that her office has pulled the plug on the city’s annual Summer Event Series. The event, which was supposed to run through Aug. 31, attracts thousands of people for free food, live entertainment, and kids’ activities.

In a letter, Bass wrote the decision was not made lightly.

“Your safety is my number one priority and given the current climate, my office is looking into bringing you alternative community events that may be a more suitable replacement for the Summer Event Series,” she wrote.

“I will continue to work with our city’s police department as well as fellow legislators, churches and anti-violence organizations to try to resolve the gun violence issues that plague our district.”

Similarly, West Philadelphia’s largest business association has called off its West Fest Block Party that was scheduled for this Saturday, July 16, due to a surge in gun violence in the neighborhood.

The event was meant to reunite the Cobbs Creek community after several summers disrupted by the pandemic.

The West Philadelphia Corridor Collaborative, which represents 2,000 businesses, wrote in a letter to its members that the group made the decision to cancel the event following three violent incidents in the area: a shooting at the Syre Recreation Center, where the event was to take place, a stabbing a few doors down from the recreation center, and a shooting at a funeral procession on 63rd and Spruce streets.

“We don’t want to have a mass event that we can’t guarantee safety,” the Collaborative’s President Jabari Jones wrote in the letter. “The last thing for me in a leadership role that I have would be seeing somebody leave our event and get shot. Or somebody’s kid gets hit.”

Several residents told WHYY News partner 6abc that they were disappointed by the decision.

“When you cancel stuff like that, positive stuff, you’re letting them win,” said Darrin McNair of Cobbs Creek. “You’re letting the idiots shooting these guns, you’re letting them win. This is how you stop them. You show kids there’s another way. Give them a couple hot dogs, a little party and they’ll see, ‘Oh there are some good things going on in life. I don’t have to use a gun.'”