By Jocelyn Hockaday

This year's Made In America festival broke barriers with a wide range of cultural inclusivity, not only in its music, but also with food.

Genre’s including Latin music, R&B, Hip-Hop/Rap, and African music, bringing the cultures of Philadelphia and other cities together as one.

The two-day music festival, came back to Philadelphia for the 10th year in a row, bringing thousands of people from all over the country to see various artists perform, enjoy the food, and visit the vendors.

“I enjoyed the atmosphere said Rebecca Romero,” a Temple University alumna. “People were there to have a good time, look cute, and spend time with friends.”

The performances took place at three stages: Rocky, named after the Sylvester Stallone movie and where the biggest acts would perform; Liberty, named after the Liberty Bell in historical Philadelphia and where the middle acts would perform; Freedom, which represents the spirit of America and where the up-and-coming acts would perform.

The various stages as described above, showcases Philadelphia’s culture which allowed the differentiating cultures of the featured artists to coexist with one another.

All stages contained artists that were well-known such as Flo Milli, just starting off their music careers like Glorilla, or up coming in fame such as JID and Snoh Aalegra.

The stages held well known artists such as Jazmine Sullivan, Pusha T, Victoria Monet, Tate Mcrae, Don Toliver, Burna Boy, Fuerza Regida, and many more.

Smaller stages showcased upcoming artists such as Coast Contra, Ambre, 5’2, Jeleel!, and Dixson. This gave these artists a time to shine and kick off their music career before the year had come to a close.

“My favorite performance was Tyler the Creator because he’s my favorite and I was excited to see him because I missed his official tour”, said Autumn Bevins, a sophomore Theater, Film & Media Arts major at Temple University.

The food options varied, including traditional American food such as BYZ Empire Catering and Chewy’s. The festival also featured healthy, inclusive choices such as vegan food options at French Toast Bites and Wholly Bowls. Traditional Philadelphia food favorites had to be there for the home event, with options such as Philadelphia Pretzel Factory and Philadelphia Eats.

Apart from Philadelphia’s Street food scene, the festival also offered a taste of the South with Brotherly Grub, African street food at Manna, and Asian cuisine at Thai Jai Dee.

In honor of Puerto Rican artist, Bad Bunny headlining Sunday’s show, many Hispanic-style food options were available all weekend. Some of these options included The Spirit of San Juan, El Tlaloc, and Latin Bites.

“My favorite food place was definitely the place I got fries from, they were fresh and tasted well,” said Swearington, a sophomore Criminal Justice major at Temple University.

Some attendees said they hoped for changes to future festivals.

“I wished there were free waters, because a lot of people were passing out and feeling lightheaded, Bevins said. “I understand there are vendors selling water, but sometimes if you really care about the patrons and want them to enjoy their time, it is okay to take a price tag off something, especially if they’re going to be in a big, compacted crowd.”

Romero said she attended the festival mostly to see Bad Bunny.

“He is huge in the Latin community, and this would be my only opportunity to see him at a decent price compared to the prices for his concert tickets,” Romero said.

From the diverse roster of artists, food options, the wide range of culture Philadelphia cultivated this weekend, and the diverse crowd of people, Made In American 2022 could be said as successful. With the next festival in the works for 2023, the mystery stands whether Philadelphia will continue to capture the creativity and diversity of its people locally and internationally.

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