Philly is adding bike racks, benches, and planters as it prepares for 2026 events

With Philadelphia expecting more than a million visitors for the FIFA World Cup, MLB All-Star Game, and July 4th celebrations, the city continues to roll out aesthetic improvements meant to be enjoyed by tourists and residents alike.

The latest facelifts come as sleek bike racks, planters, and benches that feature a bell design bearing “250” in the middle. Custom banners representing individual neighborhoods are also part of the sprucing. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is slated to officially unveil the more than 250 permanent additions that have been installed across 20 commercial corridors next Wednesday. But photos of the installations in Fox Chase, Point Breeze, and Chinatown have already begun to create buzz online.

This is the sort of enthusiasm the city hopes to maintain with many of its beautification improvements and 250 block parties planned across the city from May to October, pushing a philosophy that the celebrations should be felt in every neighborhood, not just downtown.

“We’re investing directly in neighborhoods with the goal of making sure that neighborhoods, who historically may have kind of been on the brink of receiving the economic benefits of tourism, have some strategies in place to get them over that finish line,” said Michael Newmuis, who is leading the planning of the celebrations as the city‘s 2026 director.

That’s not to say the bench rollout has gone without a hiccup.

The language of a City Council ordinance referring to semiquincentennial encroachments drew some confusion online. The ordinance referred to 22 Liberty Bell replicas peppered throughout Philly neighborhoods, but because they were referred to as encroachments, at least one user asked if a March 2027 deadline for removal applied to the benches, too.

“Philadelphia is its own worst enemy,” chimed another user.

Newmuis confirmed the benches, bike racks, and planters were meant to be permanent, part of a $1.7 million city investment in commercial corridors. He didn’t specify how many of each would be added. Other improvements are also expected to have a shelf life after the year comes to an end.

For example, Philadelphians might have already noticed graffiti cleanup in sections of the Vine Street Expressway and the CSX wall — a wall people see when taking the Amtrak out of 30th Street Station. That’s part of an $11.5 million beautification project that includes landscaping unveiled in January.

“You only get one chance to make a first impression,” said Newmuis, explaining the reasoning for targeting the CSX wall and interchanges along I-76 and I-676.

And by the time the hordes of people arrive at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park for FIFA’s fan festival in June, featuring an assortment of performances and vendors, they’ll be greeted with 12 new ADA ramps, as well as other traffic calming measures, paid for with $1.5 million in city capital funds.

In separate sprucing slated for Market East, the city is planting 40 trees and refurbishing four transit head houses, along with 20 bus shelters.

Some of the improvements are meant to be temporary, such as 10 murals and eight pop-up businesses coming to a long dilapidated stretch of Market East. The business pilot is supposed to last through summer.