{"id":143232,"date":"2026-03-19T23:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/143232\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T23:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:09:15","slug":"soccer-coachella-coming-to-phillys-lemon-hill-to-celebrate-fifa-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/143232\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Soccer Coachella\u2019 coming to Philly\u2019s Lemon Hill to celebrate FIFA World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends.\u00a0Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s host city committee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup revealed new details for its official fan festival site in East Fairmount Park\u2019s Lemon Hill Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The one million square foot space will not only have the games live on big screens, it will have local food trucks and vendors, music and soccer activities. Meg Kane, the host city executive for Philadelphia Soccer 2026, summed the vibe up as \u201csoccer Coachella.\u201d<\/p>\n

And entry will be for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo financial barriers, just world class soccer right here and open to everyone,\u201d said City Representative Jazelle Jones at Wednesday\u2019s press conference at Lemon Hill.<\/p>\n

The festival will open when the tournament begins on June 11 and run for 39 days till the final game on July 19. Organizers project there will be between 15,000 and 20,000 fans in the \u201cfree-roam\u201d space each day.<\/p>\n

\"\"A Rendering of Philadelphia\u2019s Fan Festival site for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, located at East Fairmount Park\u2019s Lemon Hill. (Courtesy of Philadelphia Soccer 2026)<\/p>\n

Programming will include a rotating offering of bites from over 75 different food local trucks. A pavilion filled with live entertainment and interactive experiences, ticketed concerts, community events and cultural performances will be on offer. Those interested in performing at the fan fest can apply here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There will be a vendor village for local businesses, which folks can apply for as well.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s nowhere to park\u2019<\/p>\n

Michael Carroll, the deputy managing director of Philly\u2019s Office of Transportation said that SEPTA will be adding more capacity to existing routes that serve the Fairmount Park area as well as adding a new stop on the Philly Phlash at Fairmount and Pennsylvania Avenues.<\/p>\n

\u201cLemon Hill by design is a pedestrian-centered experience and that\u2019s exactly what we want,\u201d Carroll said . \u201cFans are encouraged to use different modes of transportation to get here. We want people to walk up and down the parkway. We want folks to bike here. We want them to take transit and we\u2019ve been making sure through the work we\u2019re doing that every one of those options is a safe and accessible option, and it\u2019s convenient and enjoyable, and it\u2019s easy to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A Rendering of Philadelphia\u2019s Fan Festival site for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, located at East Fairmount Park\u2019s Lemon Hill. (Courtesy of Philadelphia Soccer 2026)<\/p>\n

Michael DelBene, executive producer of the fan festival did discourage one mode of transportation though.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really encouraged people to not drive to fan festival, because there\u2019s nowhere to park,\u201d he said. \u201cThey should take public transportation, they should walk, they should bike, there will be dedicated ride share drop-off and pickup zones that will be announced. But driving is really the worst way to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Road closures around the fan site\u2019s area and increased patrolling of the Lemon Hill residential areas by the\u00a0 Philadelphia Parking Authority will also be in place.<\/p>\n

All of Philly\u2019s games will all be held at Lincoln Financial Field. The five group stage games are on June 14, 19, 22, 25 and 27 and a round of 16 match will be on July 4, coinciding with the nation\u2019s semiquincentennial celebrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A Rendering of Philadelphia\u2019s Fan Festival site for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, located at East Fairmount Park\u2019s Lemon Hill. (Courtesy of Philadelphia Soccer 2026)<\/p>\n

Check out Billy Penn\u2019s World Cup guide<\/a> for more details about the tournament in Philly.<\/p>\n

Funding for the fan fest is coming through a combination of state and city funding combined with private funding from foundations, corporate partners and funders. Kane said that FIFA\u2019s recent operational budget cuts<\/a> have had no implication on Philadelphia\u2019s World Cup plans. Though all 16 host cities committed to hosting fan festival sites during the tournament, many have cancelled or scaled back their festivities, with only Philly and Houston still offering a full 39-day festival, according to the Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The festival renovations are a legacy project and Kane said that the project was about 80-to-85% ready for phase one, which is about getting the park ready for the temporary festival site infrastructure to be built up for the tournament period, which would then be built two to three weeks before the start of the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phases two and three will happen after the tournament and will involve the city installing the permanent infrastructure upgrades and park enhancements as a municipal space.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhiladelphia Soccer 2026 is committing millions of financial support for post-tournament improvements and the city is investing in enhancements that will make this park more welcoming, more accessible, more vibrant for generations of Philadelphians to come,\u201d said Parks and Rec Commissioner Susan Slawson. \u201cThis is a legacy investment and it reflects exactly the kind of impact a once in a generation should have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A Rendering of Philadelphia\u2019s Fan Festival site for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, located at East Fairmount Park\u2019s Lemon Hill. (Courtesy of Philadelphia Soccer 2026)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends.\u00a0Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. Philadelphia\u2019s host city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2847,2013,2234,69,71,70,9880,11868],"class_list":["post-143232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-fairmount-park","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-lemon-hill","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-semiquincentennial","tag-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}