With the eyes of the nation on Philadelphia for America’s 250th birthday, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration this year took over management of the city’s free July Fourth concert, which for years was produced by a nonprofit established by the city, Welcome America.
The mayor instead hired ESM Productions, a for-profit company, to put on the annual show featuring musical acts and fireworks over the Ben Franklin Parkway, and she changed the name from Wawa Welcome America to the “One Philly: Unity Concert for America” — a version of Parker’s well-known slogan, “One Philly: A United City.”
Another change: It will cost taxpayers far more than in the past.
The city is due to pay ESM Productions about $15.5 million for the show, which will be headlined by Christina Aguilera, Jill Scott and The Roots and will feature rapper Meek Mill, according to a copy of the city’s contract paperwork with ESM, obtained by The Inquirer. The city in March signed a $10 million contract with the Philadelphia-based company, as well as a $5.5 million contract amendment.
By comparison, Welcome America’s budget for all of 2024 — including that year’s July Fourth concert, the numerous other events it manages in the build-up to the concert, and the salaries of its staff — was about $6.6 million, only about $5.3 million of which came from government grants, according to the group’s most recent federal nonprofit disclosure.
Welcome America, which is a public-private partnership with the mayor serving as a board member, receives city and state funding, as well as a corporate sponsorship. The organization has been involved in Philly’s July Fourth celebrations since 1993.
Last year’s iteration of the Wawa Welcome America concert cost the organization about $3 million, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to disclose that information.
The Philly taxpayer money paid to the concert’s producers does not cover additional expenses borne by the city, such as pay for police officers and sanitation workers staffing the event.
Parker’s office initially declined a request from The Inquirer for a copy of the contract or information on the cost of this year’s concert. Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley said in an interview that the administration would publicly disclose the costs and economic benefits of the concert after it was over.
“At a later time, we could certainly be doing a full accounting, as we’re not trying to hide anything and always want to be transparent,” Garrett Harley said.
Following the interview with Garrett Harley, The Inquirer later obtained the contract, and the mayor’s office on Tuesday did not respond to follow-up questions about the cost of the concert.
ESM’s original $10 million contract with the city included a breakdown of costs, ranging from $5,000 for “furniture” to nearly $3.4 million for “talent.” It also included $1.2 million for “ESM Productions Fees” and $1 million for “Above the line Producer’s Unit.”
The contract amendment for an additional $5.5 million, signed June 26, did not include details on costs.
A spokesperson for ESM declined to comment.
Founded in 1996 by Scott Mirkin and Jenny Woo, ESM has previously produced numerous high-profile events on the Parkway, including the 2015 papal visit and Jay-Z’s Made in America concert.
David L. Cohen, a Philly political powerbroker and former U.S. ambassador to Canada, said he has hired ESM to produce events going back to when he was chief of staff for then-Mayor Ed Rendell in the 1990s.
“They’re incredibly competent; they’re incredibly good; they do an excellent job,” he said. “I really do think they’re the best event producers in Philadelphia.”
In paperwork submitted to the city, ESM said it “has a long standing relationship” with Cohen and pointed to events he hired the company to produce at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa as examples of its past work.
Cohen, who is close to Parker and is working with the mayor to lure the Democratic National Convention back to Philly, said he had “nothing to do with their hiring.”
Michael DelBene, president and CEO of Welcome America, said that, despite no longer being the producer for the concert, his organization is still managing more than a dozen Semiquincentennial-related events in partnership with the city that kicked off on Juneteenth and will run through the Fourth.
“The celebrations that happen in the city are the implementation of the mayor’s vision, and if she chooses a team to implement that vision, that’s great, and we all support that person and that team,” DelBene said in an interview. “We’re all going to row in the same direction to make sure the city shines.”
‘Any and everybody can participate’
By the time Parker took office in January 2024, Philadelphia was already behind the ball in planning the celebration for America’s Semiquincentennial.
Drama and infighting had plagued a series of nonprofit efforts and federal commissions meant to coordinate the festivities. And the COVID-19 pandemic pushed party-planning way down the priority list for the city and state leaders who could have previously led the charge, Mayor Jim Kenney and Gov. Tom Wolf.
Those delays likely squandered any opportunities for a monumental building project, such as the Please Touch Museum building, which was constructed for the 1876 Centennial Exposition, or the Ben Franklin Bridge, which opened for America’s 150th birthday in 1926. They may have also cost Philly the chance for an appearance by a high-profile dignitary, such as when Queen Elizabeth II visited for the 1976 Bicentennial.
Parker, who campaigned on combating the city’s gun violence crisis and improving basic services, did not at first appear to make the Semiquincentennial a top priority. She dedicated no money to the celebration in her first budget proposal, which was focused on public safety and public cleanliness. And she helped squelch a proposal from former Gov. Ed Rendell to build a monument for the 250th in LOVE Park.
But the mayor eventually embraced the task in a more public way — following some public prodding from City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas — and the city’s Semiquincentennial celebrations will very much bear her stamp.
Parker has pledged to spend $120 million this year to mark the occasion, and she has made investing in communities across the city, not just the historic district, a major focus as Philadelphia this summer is also hosting World Cup games and the MLB All-Star Game. Much of that spending will pay for street work and beautification projects in neighborhood commercial corridors, 250th-themed block parties, and extra funding for annual events like the Odunde Festival.
“We want to make sure that any and everybody can participate in this regardless of your station in life,” Garrett Harley said.
‘This is her big concert’
With the official Independence Day parade — still organized by Welcome America — scheduled for Friday, July 3, there is surprisingly little in the way of official patriotic proceedings taking place on July Fourth itself.
Parker at 10 a.m. will lead a Philadelphia Freedom Awards ceremony at Independence Mall honoring seven people, including Cohen and actor and Philadelphia-native Colman Domingo.
At 5 p.m., the concert will kick off on the Ben Franklin Parkway. Performers include Aguilera, Will Smith, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Jill Scott, The Roots, Meek Mill, and Seal. The city’s official fireworks show will begin at the show’s conclusion, around 11:30 p.m.
Parker has several times compared this year’s show to Live Aid, the 1985 benefit concert staged in Philadelphia and London that featured in its 10-hour stateside lineup Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Madonna, Phil Collins, the Beach Boys, the Four Tops, Santana, Run-D.M.C., and many other musical A-listers.
“If you remember Live Aid and you think about the legacy experience we’re trying to create … that’s what we’re trying to do on July the Fourth,” Parker said in March.
Garrett Harley on Tuesday conceded the concert lineups may not be exactly comparable, but said the mayor was “really talking more about the scope and the magnitude and just the memories.”
“But to certain kids it’s gonna be bigger than Live Aid, because Christina Aguilera means to them what Stevie Wonder and some of the folks who ran Live Aid meant to others,” Garrett Harley said.
Garrett Harley disputed the notion that renaming the concert “One Philly: A Unity Concert for America” meant that it now bears Parker’s branding.
“I don’t know how a ‘Unity Concert for America’ is Parker’s branding because the whole point of this is about unity,” Garrett Harley said. “The branding is really about reminding people that we need to unify, we need to be one America, despite everything that may be going on in the country right now.”
The mayor frequently concludes speeches by asking crowds to raise their index fingers and say in unison, “One Philly: A United City.” She has also had the slogan printed on city trash trucks and cans, along with her name.
“Even if it is Parker’s branding, if that’s how people see it, what would Wawa Welcome America be if not branding?” Garrett Harley added.
(Wawa, a longtime corporate sponsor for the city’s July Fourth festivities, pays Welcome America to include its branding in the event, defraying costs for taxpayers.)
Branding or not, Parker’s vision guided the planning for the concert, Garrett Harley said.
“At the end of the day, this is [Philadelphia’s] 100th mayor,” Garrett Harley said of Parker. “This was her biggest concert, and probably will be the biggest that she will ever do. She’s the first female mayor. She’s the first African American female mayor. This is her big concert.”