By Sowmya Krishna, Appmaster
At 4 p.m. on Feb. 1, the 21st annual Phoenixville Firebird Festival took place at Veterans Memorial Park in Pheonixville. The annual celebration invites the Greater Philadelphia community to appreciate and get involved in local arts and culture.
The festival offered many activities for attendees, from hosting food vendors and craft stations to bringing in local performers, such as drummers, dancers and a band that performed throughout the night. However, the main event was the live burning of a 20-foot-tall wooden phoenix structure, which took over three months to construct. The burning symbolizes the nature of life and rebirth.
“For me, the firebird, the myth, the idea of burning something down and opening up space for new goals and new ideas is just a great practice,” festival volunteer Marianne Calilhanna said.
Since its founding in 2004, the festival has relied entirely on the efforts of volunteers who work year-round to make sure the festival runs smoothly. As the event is free to attend, funding predominantly comes from sponsors and local businesses. Calilhanna primarily works to raise money and promote the festival by managing the website and handling other communications. Calilhanna explains how she goes about securing sponsors for the festival.
“I look at businesses in Phoenixville and try to think about how the people we touch in the community could benefit from the different businesses around,” Calilhanna said. “Then, I just reach out to them. I’ll email them; I’ll call them; I’ll meet people out and about and just say, ‘Hey, how could I get you involved?’”
Henrik Teglbjaerg, who is actively involved with the event and is one of its six founding members, appreciates the community efforts that go into sustaining it. He co-founded the festival to bring an appreciation of art to the community.
“It’s exciting that the festival is like a vessel for people to gather around and be creative,” Teglbjaerg said. “I feel I get so many gifts from people just adding their own creativity to it.”
The event attracted people beyond Greater Philadelphia. Felicia Bello, an attendee from Delaware, expressed her appreciation of the celebration.
“I like the way the festival is set up,” Bello said. “You can bounce around to a lot of different things and always stay entertained.”
Sowmya Krishna can be reached at [email protected].
