The Bird Burns Tonight

Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from an article we ran a month ago, but as the festival is today it seemed appropriate to republish. You can find the day's schedule for the Firebird Festival here.

A beloved annual event of the Phoenixville community, the Firebird Festival is uniquely symbolic among its street festival brethren.

Gearing up for its eighth year, no other festival so represents the roots or the spirit of Phoenixville like this, both honoring its namesake and a community that has risen, shiny and bright, from the ash.

This year there will be some changes to further highlight the singularity of this procession. The "burning" question so many are asking is “Why is the bird all the way up on that hill?” To answer this and many other questions, we spoke to Emma Peabody from the Firebird Festival Committee.

What’s Different This Year?

Getting back to that question about the bird being up on the hill, Peabody says “Well, we chose to put it so high up for greater visibility,” she pauses to laugh, “and it’s startlingly visible. But with such a huge crowd last year and a hopefully bigger crowd, we thought it was important to have it be so visible.”

What else is different aside from the startling visibility of the pièce de résistance? The design itself is different than the Firebirds of the past, Peabody explains.

“Interesting difference: this year’s bird design shows the bird in an earlier stage of its emergence. It shows the bird rising from the (vantage point) of a shoulder-up view.” 

Some quick stats on the bird, which designer Charles Segal has named "Sylvia." She's 24 feet tall and has a beak more than eight feet long. Workers gather on weekends to assemble the sculpture.

There will also be a larger number of vendors and musicians this year, and they hope all of the Phoenixville community, old and new, will participate.

“The egg shakers are new this year, too,” Peabody offered, leading to the inevitable follow up question: what is an egg shaker?

“Egg shakers are a new tradition for kids ages 8 to 12. They’re hollow clay eggs with clay balls inside that rattle when shaken," Peabody said.  

The noise of the rattling will generate excitement in the crowd as the Firebird lighting draws closer, much like noisemakers are used to hype crowds at sporting events or New Year's Eve parties.

If You Go

When: Saturday, Dec. 10

Time: Special events begin in late morning with the lighting of the Firebird estimated for 8 p.m.

Where: 300 block of Bridge Street

Cost: Free

More Info: Follow the bird's progress on Facebook.