Grid Magazine

Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

FRIDAY, 6.19
Juneteenth Farmers Market & Vendor Village: Join us for our kickoff Farmers Market and Vendor Village this Juneteenth! We’ll be featuring a variety of Black and Brown farmers, growers, florists, artisans, and other small businesses we absolutely LOVE. We’ll be continuing this series all through the season every first and third Friday.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/juneteenth-farmers-market-vendor-village/

SATURDAY, 6.20
Birding with Pride with Philly Q***r Birders: Come celebrate Pride Month in the Wissahickon with a morning of birdwatching and community building! Join Friends of the Wissahickon and Philly Q***r Birders for a gentle hike along Forbidden Drive as we keep our eyes and ears peeled for birds summering in the park.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/birding-with-pride-with-philly-queer-birders/

SUNDAY, 6.21
2026 Juneteenth Parade & Festival Vendor Marketplace: Join us for the largest Juneteenth Parade & Festival in the country — a powerful, high-energy celebration of freedom, resilience, and culture.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/2026-juneteenth-parade-festival-vendor-marketplace/

Every human produces a little more than 4.5 ounces of excrement per day. Multiplied by the 2.2 million customers of the Philadelphia Water Department’s wastewater system, the cumulative daily dump equals about 620,811 pounds, or about 310 tons.

The story of biosolids (treated sewage sludge) starts with clean water in the toilet bowls of the residents of Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs. That water carries away the 310 tons of what people deposit, joined by water from sinks and showers — not to mention everything that washes down the drains of car washes, small factories, dry cleaners and other businesses. Where old sewer lines are combined with stormwater drainage, rain and melting snow flow in as well.

Those toilet contents splash into the sewers and, driven mostly by gravity, roll downhill through more than 3,000 miles of pipes and tunnels to one of the city’s three water pollution control plants: Northeast, Southwest or Southeast.

As the name implies, those plants are tasked with removing pollution from roughly 400 million gallons of wastewater (about 500 Kelly Pools) per day before discharging it into the Delaware River.

It’s up to the PWD to separate the clean water back out and then dispose of what people put in it. A recent biosolids-processing failure at the Southwest Water Pollution Control Plant made plain that treating wastewater is an inherently complicated task made more difficult by aging infrastructure and staffing shortages. And as demands grow to filter out forever chemicals and reduce the environmental impact of treated sewage sludge, it’s unlikely to get any easier.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2026/06/01/treating-wastewater-isnt-easy-and-forever-chemicals-are-making-it-harder/

✍️ Bernard Brown
📸 Matthew Bender

Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

FRIDAY, 6.5
Pride Month Hike: Come along with Trail Ambassadors Lisa Kleiman, Sheryl Rose, Jean McWilliams, and Jill Curatolo to celebrate Pride Month with a special early evening hike! Highlights of the route will include the Lavender Trail (of course!), the Thomas Mill Red Covered Bridge, and a stretch alongside the Wissahickon Creek. Along the way, we’ll talk about some movers and shakers from the Philly LGBTQ+ community.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/pride-month-hike/

SATURDAY, 6.6
Philly Outdoor Gear Swap: Join us for a one day outdoor flea market to buy, sell, trade and give away gently used gear. This is a great chance for your equipment to find a new home or for you to find some affordable nature stuff to enhance your adventures!

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/philly-outdoor-gear-swap/

SATURDAY, 6.6
West Philadelphia Unity Fest: Join us as we celebrate 5 years of building a stronger community together at the West Philadelphia Unity Fest! It’s a day filled with music, activities, and community fun.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/west-philadelphia-unity-fest/

When a crowd comprised of more than 60 renters, homeowners, organizers and representatives gathered on May 7 in Southwest Philadelphia’s Kingsessing neighborhood, they had one message: “The renters united will never be defeated.”

Led by One PA, a statewide community organizing group, the rally was the latest move in the ongoing effort to secure 925 affordable rental units managed by Neighborhood Restorations, a private developer. The units, spread across West and Southwest Philadelphia, were cast into the spotlight last July when Neighborhood Restorations released a letter announcing its intentions to sell the properties as a single portfolio in the near future.

Such a sale could result in major displacement for the approximately 3,000 people who call Neighborhood Restorations properties home, according to Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who represents Philadelphia’s Third District, where most of the units are located.

“These are long-term tenants that are very rooted in their communities,” says Gauthier. “This is about people who have been contributors to their blocks, to their communities, asking their city, asking their government to help them from being displaced and having their lives shattered.”

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2026/06/01/southwest-philly-residents-rally-to-save-affordable-housing/

✍️ Sophie Aanerud
📸 Tracie Van Auken