Final Preparations Underway For Weekend 'Made in America' Music Fest
By Mike Dougherty, Pat Ciarrocchi, Diana Rocco
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Crews were working hard today along the Ben Franklin Parkway to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow's start of the "Made In America" festival.
The sound of screw guns and fork lifts filled the air, workers focused on the task at hand.
There are four performance areas, and this morning the main stage looked just about ready.
Ed Dougherty, from Bellmawr, was on last year's crew too.
"When performers are ready to go and it is show time, they can walk on that stage and know they are in good hands where all of the equipment involved in this production count. So it is a big deal," he said.
Pallets full of beer and soda and water sat in the middle of the street, waiting to be moved into vendor kiosks.
Rachel Spivak, with Live Nation, says it takes thousands of people to pull off this two-day extravaganza, and the planning takes a full year.
"Once the festival ended last year is when we began planning and thinking about it -- even during the festival last year," Spivak tells KYW Newsradio. "You don't stop thinking about it, especially an undertaking where you're going to see 60,000 (attendees) per day."
"We're excited about Labor Day," said Desiree Peterkin-Bell, City of Philadelphia representative. "The economic impact last year was $10 million. We are hoping, wishing, and know it will be just even more than it was last year."
Spivack says with acts from hip-hop to rock-and-roll to EDM (electronic dance music), there's something for everybody.
Doors open at noon both days.
