Photo: Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard/Facebook

9 Ways You Know It's Spring in Philadelphia

by Alicia Raeburn Apr 2, 2019

The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and we’ve all started smiling again. The dreaded Philly winter months are finally over, and we can begin to extend our daily life outdoors again. But that’s not all, here are nine ways you know that it’s officially spring in Philadelphia.

1. There’s free water ice.

Regardless of what the weather is, the only way we can trust that it’s the first day of spring every year is by watching the line for free Rita’s grow three blocks long.

2. The cherry blossoms are out.

Say what you will about our city, but it’s downright charming in spring. Especially when those brick rowhouse-lined streets near Rittenhouse come alive with pink cherry blossoms.

3. Loud hip-hop is playing in the streets.

The windows roll down, the bicycle riding speakers come out, and the stoop-side soundtracks begin. It’s officially hip-hop season in Philly.

4. The running path is packed.

Maybe you’re a die-hard, out there jogging when the temperatures dip into the 20s and 30s. But the rest of us wait until spring when we can feel sustained sunshine and the temps rise right back into that preferred 50-60 range before heading out for a jog.

6. People are nice again.

Breathe out, you can finally greet your neighbor again. The return of blue skies and sunshine means it’s safe to converse with strangers without the fear of them taking out their winter anger on you.

7. The sidewalk tables emerge.

The tables for your neighborhood restaurants are out and that means that you can get back to waiting hours in unreasonably long lines for brunch.

8. The hammocks go up.

Watching all the young folk cheerfully string up their hammocks is as much an indicator of the season change as the birds migrating back home.

9. The Rittenhouse performers come out.

We don’t care how cheesy it is, we still get excited when we see the five-dollar poem guy come back out to the park because it means it’s officially spring.

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