Philadelphia and the Countryside - Press Room

Gay and lesbian travelers looking to extend their summer fun into autumn need look no further than Philadelphia in 2009 and beyond. With a handful of new restaurants, bars, clubs, events and hotels to complement Philadelphia’s cherished and historical gay-friendly heritage, Philadelphia is the place to Get Your History Straight

This summer, as part of the new With Love, Philadelphia XOXO™ marketing campaign, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) is asking 5,000 Philadelphians to send postcards to friends and family all over the country inviting them to visit Philadelphia and stay over in a hotel.

Philadelphians can write

There’s always a ton of fun and fabulous things to do on any given night in Philadelphia—hip bars, luxurious lounges, indie rock haunts and electric clubs. But visitors looking for more variety in the nightlife scene have plenty of choices as well, such as dance lessons, drag shows, movie showings,

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) will debut PHILLY 360°™, The Book—the newest component of its African-American tourism marketing campaign—at The Roots Picnic on June 6, 2009. The limited-edition, hard-bound book features interviews with some of Philadelphia’s most prominent African-American tastemakers and trendsetters, including The Roots, King Britt

History buffs, science enthusiasts, art lovers and Galileo fans eager to visit Philadelphia for the Galileo, The Medici and The Age of Astronomy exhibition—making its exclusive stop at The Franklin Institute Science Museum, April 4-September 7, 2009—need look no further than gophila.com/galileo, a specially created section on the Philadelphia’s

DONNA SCHORR, a young-at-heart Baby Boomer
Director of Communications

Yes, I take a train ride to the city every day, and at this age, I’m no expert on late night clubbing. But I’ve lived in or near Philly for decades (never mind how many), and I can tell you a

Eat And Drink Your Way Through Philadelphia:

1. It’s hard to say whether kids or adults have more fun at the fudge-and-candy parties at Betty’s Speakeasy. Large or intimate groups can schedule time to cut fudge, make candy, decorate cookies and gobble them up at the end of the party.

Gay and lesbian travelers eager to get their “history straight” and “nightlife gay” will find an eclectic mix of fun and fabulous happenings in Philadelphia and The Countryside® throughout the year. Dance parties, drag shows, pride parades and cultural events are among the offerings for gay travelers in 2009. Here’s

Philly Beer Week is one of the countless reasons to Love Philadelphia. From March 6-15, 2009, beer lovers from all over can sip their way through more than 100 events at the second annual Philly Beer Week, which attracted more than 15,000 participants during its first year.

This year’s Philly

Thanks to its “City of Brotherly Love” and “Place That Loves You Back” monikers and the iconic Love sculpture that anchors Center City’s Love Park, Philadelphia has long been identified with that most euphoric of emotions. It should come as no surprise that hundreds of singles-friendly attractions across the region

Journalists are taking notice of Philadelphia as a hot urban destination, as evidenced by the many accolades bestowed on the city in September and October 2008. Here’s a look at what some national magazines and a Web site had to say:

• Business Facilities chose Philadelphia as one of seven destinations

Population:
There are 3.9 million people residing in the five-county region (7.75 million in the Philadelphia Designated Market Area), making Philadelphia the second largest city on the East Coast and the sixth largest in the U.S.

Location:
Philadelphia is a two-hour drive from New York City, two-and-a-half hours

An incubator for jazz since the genre was first created, Philadelphia has drawn many of the world’s greats: John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie and Sun Ra are just a few of the artists who came from or came to Philadelphia, nurturing roots in the city that contributed greatly to this classic

On the heels of a successful first year, uwishunu®, a two-year marketing initiative promoting Philly primarily through new media and Web 2.0 tools, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) is responding to the uwishunu.com audience’s interest in original content with the debut of three new Web video

On any night of the week, there are countless things to do after dark in Philadelphia. From an upscale happy hour at a renowned museum to movies with a side of beer to cabarets with a little of everything, nights in Philly fit any mood. Here is a sample of

Openings:

• Please Touch Museum and Centennial District – When it opens on October 18, 2008, the children’s museum’s new location in Fairmount Park’s Memorial Hall—a National Historic Landmark built in 1876 for the Centennial Exhibition—will boast three times more space for exhibitions and programs. Just outside the museum,

To mark the 100^th anniversary of Mother’s Day, started by Philadelphia resident and West Virginia native Anna Jarvis to honor her mother Anna Marie, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) and the Office of the City Representative are organizing the City of Motherly Love" celebration on Saturday, May

Music loversand gardening fans will find lots to groove to when "Jazz it Up," this year’s edition of the Philadelphia Flower Show, rolls into the Pennsylvania Convention Center from March 2-9, 2008. And after strolling through floral displays that re-create familiar New Orleans scenes and enjoying live jazz performances taking

Hosted by Philadelphia Daily News beer reporter Don Russell, also known as Joe Sixpack, a series of beer-focused vodcasts (short videos) launched today on gophila.com/beer and uwishunu.com/beer. The vodcasts guide beer lovers through the bars and pubs of four Philly neighborhoods, teaching informally about beer, food pairings and the