Philadelphia readies for start of Wawa's Welcome America Festival

PHILADELPHIA - Wawa's Welcome America Festival begins this weekend, and Philadelphia wants residents and visitors to be prepared for over two weeks of fun, music and events. 

The festivities begin on Sunday with a Junteenth block party in Center City and runs through Independence Day, culminating with the return of Party on the Parkway. 

City officials announced in May that the July 4th concert and fireworks spectacular on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be headlined by Jason Derulo and Ava Max. 

"It's a lot of energy, a lot of energy, it'll be lit for real," Tevin Mack told FOX 29's Chris O'Connell.

The city on Friday shared several road closures that will accompany the slate of events over the next 16 days. The full list of road closures can be found on the city's website. 

Perhaps the biggest fan-favorite returning this year is Wawa's Hoagie Day Tributes to our Local Heroes on June 29th. Wawa will dish out 7-tons of free hoagies at Independence Mall, along with a performance by the Six String Soldiers of The United States Army String Band.

"We need that right now with all the crime going on people getting killed and stuff," Darrell Drew from South Philadelphia said. "I fell as though that will bring the city together, we need that"

For complete information on all the festivities coming up over the next two weeks, visit Welcome America's website.