PHILADELPHIA, LOGAN SQUARE

Kicking off Fairmount Park Art Association’s free public art event series, An Evening of Tango at the Swann Memorial Fountain invites audiences to reimagine a historic 1924 Philadelphia dance party and celebrate the fountain’s water being turned on for the season — a Philly rite of spring — in the center of one of the city’s most famous intersections.

During the summers of the early 1920s, Benjamin Franklin Parkway would hold large-scale municipal dances once a week; residents would come together and dance the tango to the beat of the Police Band. On July 24, 1924, the day after Swann Memorial Fountain was unveiled to the public, thousands danced in celebration. The Art Association reimagines these gatherings with An Evening of Tango at the Swann Memorial Fountain. [A detailed history of the 1920s Parkway dances follows.]