1. New Attractions for 2001-2002: The $255 million Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, will open in December 2001 -- a soaring, glass-enclosed facility for resident (and visiting) orchestra, dance and opera companies, including the Philadelphia Orchestra; the center encompasses a 2,500-seat Concert Hall, 650-seat Recital Theater, and (nearby) the landmark Academy of Music. Also opening in fall 2001 is the $30 million Gateway Visitors Center, a major visitor amenity and portal for tourism to Independence National Historical Park and the greater Philadelphia region. The $105-million National Constitution Center opens in September 2002, a stirring interactive museum and the first dedicated to honor and perpetuate the ideas embodied in the U.S. Constitution. In late 2002, the Family Entertainment Center will open on Penn’s Landing on the Delaware River; a mixed-use project, the Center will cover 740,000 square feet with a blend of entertainment, dining, cultural, retail and festival options.
2. Exhibitions Coming to the Philadelphia Area in late 2000-2001: Quiet Helpers: Quaker Service in Postwar Germany, November 5 – January 31, Arch Street Friends Meeting House; Jewels of Mind and Mentality: Fifty Years of Avant-Garde Dutch Jewelry, November 11 – January 7, Philadelphia Art Alliance; A Brandywine Christmas, November 24-January 14, Brandywine River Museum; The Buffalo Soldiers, December 14-January 28, 2001, African American Museum; Sitting Pretty: Photographs from the Marianne More Archive, October 12-February 11 at the Rosenbach Museum and Library; Intimate Worlds: Masterpieces of Indian Painting, March 4-April 21, Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA); Weegee’s Story: From the Berinson Collection, May 22-September 1, Philadelphia Art Alliance; Once We Were Americans: Max Belcher, April 5-September 16, African Amercian Museum; Thomas Eakins, October – December, PMA.
3. Events Not to Miss in 2001: First Fridays, an evening open house for art galleries in Old City, the first Friday of each month; 100^th Annual Mummers Parade on New Years Day; American Garden Legacy: Exploring Garden Transformations, January 27-March 4, Welcome Spring, January 27-April 5, and Acres of Spring, April 21-May 25 – all at Longwood Gardens; The Book and the Cook Festival and Fair, a 10-day food extravaganza, pairing noted cookbook authors with top Philadelphia restaurants, from March 23-April 1; Philadelphia Flower Show: Great Gardeners of the World, March 4-11 at Pennsylvania Convention Center.
4. Encores for Philadelphia Restaurateurs: Philadelphia’s premier restaurateurs are hard at work opening new outlets all over the city. Neil Stein, who runs up-market Striped Bass, Rouge, and recently opened Fishmarket and Bleu, will soon be opening Avenue B on Broad Street. Stephen Starr, who blends dining with a dash of the theatrical, will add Pod (Asian Fusion) and Alma de Cuba to his successful outlets Tangerine, Continental Martini Bar and Blue Angel. The venerated George Perrier, proprietor of Le Bec-Fin and Brasserie Perrier is opening Le Mas Perrier in Spread Eagle Village in Strafford on the Main Line. Delilah Winder of Famous Delilah’s Southern Cuisine, has opened Bluezette, a second establishment serving soul food, Latin and Caribbean cuisine. Audrey Claire, proprietor of a Rittenhouse Square favorite, has opened 20 Manning across the street.
5. Banking on Tourism: Once banks, Philadelphia’s most spectacular buildings are now hotels: the new 585-room Loews Philadelphia Hotel in the former PSFS (Philadelphia Savings Fund Society) building; the 500-room Courtyard by Marriott in the Market Street National Bank; the neo-classical, domed 331-room Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia Hotel; and the 300-room Hotel Sofitel in the former Philadelphia Stock Exchange Building.
6. Heart of Philadelphia Package: Available all year, the package starts at $99 per person and includes one night’s stay, culture pass for buy-one-get-one-free admission to more than 50 attractions and museums, overnight parking or breakfast, and a free silver Lagos Heart of Philadelphia pendant or $100 gift certificate. Participating hotels include The Comfort Inn ($99), Best Western Center City ($109), Clarion Suites ($129), Omni Hotel at Independence Park ($129), and the new Hotel Sofitel ($199).

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation is a non-profit organization dedicated to generating awareness of and visitation to Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties. For more information about travel to Philadelphia visit www.gophila.com or call (888) GO-PHILA.

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Note to Editors: For photographic images of Philadelphia and its surrounding countryside, visit the photo gallery section of www.gophila.com/pressroom.

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