Each summer, on June 16, the Rosenbach Museum & Library celebrates Bloomsday. The free event commemorates Leopold Bloom’s fictional journey through the streets of Dublin, as imagined in James Joyce’s epic "Ulysses."
Joyce's masterwork was published in Paris in 1922 and finally cleared for U.S. publication (after a long battle over whether it was obscene) in 1934.
The manuscript for "Ulysses" has been at the Rosenbach since 1924.
As part of the Bloomsday celebration, there will be a daylong reading of the novel outside the museum on Delancey Place. Readers include actors Michael Toner and Drucie McDaniel, along with other public figures and artists, while singers from the Academy of Vocal Arts will bring the novel's tavern songs and arias to life.
New this year, there will be a pop-up beer garden by Grey Lodge Pub proprietor Mike “Scoats” Scotese. Beers featured will include Sly Fox and Evil Genius. Cider and wine will be available, too.
As for food, Foolish Waffles, 2 Street Sammies and Bearings Coffee will be on-site.
Other activities during the day include free admission to the museum's current exhibit and a silent auction.
Bloomsday at the Rosenbach will run from noon to 8 p.m.
Those who want to keep day's fun going can head to McGillin's Olde Ale House, which will be serving $4 pints of O’Hara’s Stout from Ireland, $4 Dublin Donkeys and Irish breakfast all day, as a part of the bar's own Bloomsday celebration.
The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Raven Society (a young professionals group) is also hosting a pub crawl that starts at the Rosenbach Museum's beer garden at 6 p.m. and ends at McGillin’s at 8:15 p.m.
Bloomsday 2017
Friday, June 16
Noon to 8 p.m. | Free
Rosenbach Museum & Library
2008-2010 Delancey Place