Week of March 5, 2026
It’s starting to feel very spring-like here in Philadelphia, and we’ve got plenty of sunny news to brighten your day. Here are our favorite Philly stories this week:
Philadelphia Opens a New Pride Visitor Center in the Gayborhood
Last week marked the grand opening of the new Philly Pride Visitor Center, one of the few dedicated LGBTQ+ visitor centers in the country, located at the corner of 12th & Locust streets in the heart of the Gayborhood.
The center — open Thursday through Monday each week — now welcomes travelers from around the globe and celebrates Philadelphia’s legacy as one of the nation’s most inclusive destinations, just in time for the yearlong semiquincentennial festivities.
Visitors to the center can get guidance with itinerary planning and travel info for the city and the entire state of Pennsylvania, with a special focus on LGBTQ-affirming destinations, businesses and cultural institutions.
The new visitor center came together through collaboration between the Philadelphia Visitor Center, Visit Philadelphia (yep, that’s us!), the Pennsylvania Office of Tourism and the Philadelphia Gay News, the city’s first newspaper for the LGBTQ+ community, which just celebrated 50 years of service.
We are so proud of our Philly Pride!
James Beard Foundation Awards the “America’s Classics” Designation to Oyster House in Rittenhouse Square
The James Beard Foundation has announced the winners of its America’s Classics Award, with Rittenhouse Square’s Oyster House taking the honor for the entire Mid-Atlantic region. The award recognizes “independently owned restaurants with timeless appeal.”
The foundation described the beloved, long-standing restaurant well-known for its regular happy hour oyster specials as “legendary” and “the last of its generation.”
No stranger to award-winning restaurants, Philadelphia has a long list of James Beard honored restaurants, with more than a dozen restaurants recently named semifinalists for its annual awards.
All winners will be announced on March 31, 2026, with the big award ceremony coming in June.
Philly Gets Millions in Funding to Boost Public Transit for FIFA World Cup 26
As Philadelphia gets ready to welcome the world here for six, epic FIFA World Cup 26 matches, our public transit system is getting a major boost from the federal government to ensure even easier navigation.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the region more than $8 million dollars to increase transit capacity and get the trains, buses and trolleys in tip-top shape for the hundreds of thousands of fans expected to attend the matches, with SEPTA receiving more than $5 million.
FIFA World Cup 26 runs from June 11 to July 19, 2026, with Philly’s matchups held between June 14 and July 4, 2026 — which happens to also be the 250th birthday of the United States.
Tuesday also marked the start of the 100-day countdown to the first coin toss, getting a little help from Eagles defensive Brandon Graham. After leading the crowd through a standard “E-A-G-L-E-S” chant, Graham spent some time readying the crowd for soccer chants.
Philly Ranks in the Top 10 Hottest Rental Markets in the Country
More and more people want to call Philly home, according to RentCafe’s recent ranking of the hottest rental markets in the country, listing our great city as the eighth most searched rental market out of 150 major cities.
Although Philly dropped a few spots from last year’s ranking, it’s not because demand has decreased. Quite the contrary. Philly’s recent construction boom has opened up so many more available units that those apartment hunters searching on RentCafe’s site didn’t need to look as hard, decreasing the number of searches.
While most of those looking for apartments already live here and know what a great place Philly is to live, the city has also seen a huge uptick in apartment seekers moving here from New York, Boston and Washington, D.C.
To all those new Philly transplants, welcome to Philly. We’re glad you’re here!
Vote for Your Philly Faves in the 2026 Liberty Bells
The Liberty Bells are back! It’s time once again for our annual awards-season celebration highlighting all of the people, places and things that make Philly so very, well, Philly.
Unlike those fancy-schmancy Hollywood awards shows, the Liberty Bells are 100% people-powered by the very people who love this city as much as we do. That’s you!
So, stop what you’re doing and take a few minutes to make your voice heard about the places in the city you love. Here’s how it works: Get your nominations in by Friday, March 13, 2026. Tell your friends, neighbors and followers to do the same.
Then, we’ll tally up the submissions, name finalists and open up the public voting phase from March 23 through April 3. Winners of the 2026 Liberty Bells will be announced during Visit Philadelphia’s 30th Anniversary Gala on May 14.
Get your nominations in now!
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