Go Now: Spruce Street Harbor Park

Technically speaking--technically—I could be described as lazy. For instance, I may or may not have watched six Will & Grace repeats on Monday. In a row. After watching three episodes of Property Brothers. In a row.  But before watching two episodes of Friends. In a row. Sometimes I think it’s a minor miracle that I haven’t actually fused to the couch.

(I seriously just lost my train of thought and have no idea why I was writing that…OH YEAH! Ahem…)

This summer, I have been making what can only be described as a Herculean effort to get off of my rump, out of my house, and into this fair city I call home. Remember that list of fun free things I served up to you a few weeks ago? Yeah, I totally DID THOSE THINGS. This is huge, guys. Huge.

Anyway, I also got off my bum last week to explore the Spruce Street Harbor Park with G, which turned out to be a super good idea. And if you, like me, are a lazy son-of-a-gun, you’re gonna need to rally and check it out, too.

Opened in 2014, Spruce Street Harbor Park (or SSHP as it is apparently colloquially, and kind of oddly, known—IF I CANT SAVE SYLLABLES USING AN ACRONYM WHY DOES IT EXIST? Sheesh.) is a pop-up park dreamed up by the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. And dreamy it is. Philly has a way of kind of, erm, totally wasting and abusing waterfront property, but the SSHP (ugh) is a grand vision of what public, waterfront space could be if we put down our Dave and Busters tokens for a second and thought a little deeper.

Featuring lily pad garden, a boardwalk, shipping crates turned into snack shacks and beer bars (and featuring all your pals from Garces Group, Federal Donuts, Yards, and more), twinkle lights in trees, and more hammocks than you can shake a stick at, SSHP is kind of a weird Midsummer Night’s Dream meets, I dunno, Hook. There are floating barges where you can grab a drink and take a seat; there’s a weird row of heavy netting hanging over the water where you can lay out and, presumably, wave goodbye to your glasses, cellphone, and keys as they make their way to their watery graves; and play a game of ping pong (in which I will inevitably destroy you).

We spent a lazy evening wandering around, chatting, and of course stuffing our faces (cocktails and giant Bavarian pretzels—don’t mind if I do!) and you know what? I didn’t even miss my HGTV.

So, shoo, shoo! If you haven’t seen it for yourself—heck, even if you already have—hurry off to see the SSHP and see what Philadelphia is really capable of. And don’t forget the pretzel!