'Made In America' Fest, With Jay-Z, Returning For 2nd Year To Ben Franklin Parkway
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The "Made In America" festival, once again featuring rapper Jay-Z, is returning to Philadelphia this Labor Day weekend.
Last year's two-day "Made in America" festival on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway drew thousands, and according to city officials provided a big boost to the local economy with hotel and restaurant bookings.
City representative Desiree Peterkin-Bell spoke of it Monday at a City Council hearing.
"This successful, new, big event resulted in a minimum of ten million dollars in economic impact to the city's economy, at a time when the City of Philadelphia wasn't even on the (national) radars for Labor Day weekend," she said.
Jay-Z is returning for a second year, on Saturday, August 31st and Sunday, September 1st.
Other acts are to be announced this Wednesday, and it will , like last year, be a ticketed event.
At the hearing, held before the return of the event was officially confirmed, City Council president Darrell Clarke asked Peterkin-Bell about damage to a ballfield that adjoins the parkway, and whether another "Made in America" would ensure the field would be preserved.
(Clarke:) "Do you anticipate any activity on that field?"
(Peterkin-Bell:) "As of right now I do not have any site plans. I don't anticipate there would be major disruption on that field."
And councilman-at-large Bill Greenlee asked Peterkin-Bell about the noise level that "Made in America" brought to residents nearby.
"The sound, if you lived within a couple of blocks there, it was literally shaking windows," Greenlee said. "So again, that's probably a difficult thing to control. But I know people who live very close were very concerned about that. And I was in a couple of the houses, and they had a legitimate concern."
