Wawa Welcome America announces 2019 event lineup

The Wawa Welcome America group held a press conference on May 16, 2019, for its upcoming 4th of July celebration. Speakers at the event included the Mayor of Philadelphia Jim Kenney, Welcome America Inc. President & CEO Michael DelBene, Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens, and NBC10 President and General Manager Ric Harris.

This year’s celebrations will have more than 50 family-friendly events across the city, culminating in the 4th of July Party on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Events start at noon and continue throughout the day, ending with a concert and fireworks show that night.

It was announced that Jennifer Hudson and Meghan Trainor will both perform at the concert this year. People may know Jennifer Hudson as a finalist on American Idol in 2004 or, more recently, for her performance of “It's A Man's Man's Man's World,” on the Voice UK and for her role in the 2006 award-winning film, “Dreamgirls”. One of the reasons why Hudson was chosen to headline the event was to highlight a strong African-American female role model. Meghan Trainor is widely known for her 2014 hit pop single, “All about that Bass”.

Michael DelBene announced that the non-for-profit group, Esperanza, will host a 200-person cleanup of Huntington Park this year and hopes that a spirit of volunteerism will be associated with the Wawa Welcome America celebration for years to come.

Mayor Kenney spoke about how diversity in the United States is one of its key strengths and was enthusiastic that both visitors and residents of Philadelphia would enjoy the Wawa celebrations this year. Along these lines, DelBene thanked the event’s TV partners, including Comcast, NBC 10, and Telemundo, which he praised for “bringing our event to families across the nation” in both English and Spanish.

Welcome America presented a welcoming environment that recognizes the diversity of cultural heritage of its attendees and throughout Philadelphia. In alignment with that message, Global Philadelphia Association is proud to partner with Wawa Welcome America for the third year in a row and continues to advocate for world heritage awareness through this partnership.

Finally, the Wawa mascot, Wally Goose, made an appearance at the event and speakers and press alike were delighted to pose for pictures. 

For more information about the upcoming July 4th holiday events, visit https://welcomeamerica.com/.

Article written by Zimri T. Hinshaw on behalf of Global Philadelphia Association