Here's how people celebrated one of the city's buzziest events of the year
An attendee wears a mask to Saturday's vacant lot party in Brewerytown.
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
by Thom Carroll PhillyVoice Contributor
The mysterious Furnace Party on Saturday drew hundreds of people from all over the Philadelphia region to a vacant lot at 27th Street and Girard Avenue. Some drinking a special "Do Attend" beer. Others were prepared to grill out and listen to tunes on a sunny, breezy day.
PhillyVoice staffers Thom Carroll and Brian Hickey were on scene to document Philly's most-talked-about event since the Eagles' Super Bowl parade.
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceThe man who goes by ABBA arrives at Furnace Party. He is the apparent author of the mysterious letter that captivated the city for weeks.Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceFor some, the Furnace Party was Halloween in April. Here, one attendee wears a shark costume.Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceThe Furnace Party at 27th and Girard in Philadelphia's Brewerytown neighborhood drew hundreds to a vacant lot.Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceAn attendee wears a mask to Saturday's vacant lot party in Brewerytown.Thom Carroll/PhillyVoicePeople check out the goings-on at the big event.Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceA bulldozer attends the Furnace Party.Brian Hickey/PhillyVoiceThis is Alvonia Smith. She typed the Furnace Party letter months ago. She said the man behind it – who she will not name beyond ABBA – is supposed to attend the event.Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceDo Attend, Crime and Punishment's double IPA, looks a bit like a glass of fresh orange juice. Taps opened early for Saturday's gathering at 27th Street and Girard Avenue in Brewerytown.
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceXavier Synnestvedt of Bryn Athyn, Montgomery County, dressed as a welder, was told about the Furnace Party by his religion teacher. Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceCrime and Punishment Brewing’s draft list, including the Do Attend double IPA to mark Saturday's event at a nearby lot in Brewerytown. Brian Hickey/PhillyVoiceEmily Prigmore and Taylor Poticher were the first two to arrive at the Furnace Party site on Saturday, April 27, 2019.
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceFairmount resident Ted Gardner, a regular at the Crime & Punishment brewery, got his Do Attend shirt from Amazon. Thom Carroll/PhillyVoiceNinety minutes before the appointed time of noon, the Furnace Party had drawn its first attendees to the vacant lot at 27th and Girard in Brewerytown on Saturday. Brian Hickey/PhillyVoiceJoel Todd of East Falls created a website in anticipation of Saturday's Furnace Party. He will attend with a group of friends and a 'drinking chaperone' who responded to a Craigslist ad. PhillyVoice Illustration/Photo by Brian HickeyThe Furnace Party is set for noon Saturday on an empty lot in Brewerytown.
