Philadelphia

Made in America Festival to Expand Security Measures, Will Not Interfere With Papal Preparations

Even with tens of thousands of people expected to flock to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway this weekend for the Made In America festival, post-event breakdowns will not interfere with preparation for Pope Francis' visit.

Everett Gillison, Chief of Staff and Deputy Mayor of Philadelphia, spoke to the media Friday regarding the fourth-annual Labor Day weekend concert, and assuaged fears surrounding a potential overlap between production for the two events.

"We know how to host big events well," said Gillison.

The deputy mayor noted that the city has been working with production companies for both the festival and the World Meeting of Families, and that creating a schedule for breakdown of the festival grounds left very little overlap with the vast amount of setup required to ready the parkway for the pope.

Gillison also spoke to the increased security measures at this year's music festival, an expansion of a successful program from the previous year. The grounds are divided up into a grid system, with each section corresponding to a letter-number combination, such as M1.

"If you need to call for help, you can give your grid location so people can get to you easily," he added.

With temperatures this weekend in the upper 80s, Gillison urged all festivalgoers to stay hydrated and drink lots of water.

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