The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts wraps up with a giant block party on Broad

AFTER 25 DAYS of daintily sipping Beaujolais and channeling its inner Marc Chagall, Philadelphia is about to hang up its PIFA beret. Though not before throwing a bon voyage party to remember.

Starting at 1 p.m. today, the city will begin to shut down a stretch of Broad Street, from Chestnut to Lombard, setting the six-block stage for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts to put on its version of a turn-of-the-20th-century Parisian street fair starting tomorrow at 11 a.m. It's an event whose scope and charm Philadelphia has yet to experience, promised PIFA executive director Ed Cambron.

"We tried really hard to show the community, and even people from afar, that we live in a vibrant arts-and-culture city," Cambron said. "We want everybody to just come out to the city and play."

Parisian flair will spruce up Broad Street's asphalt stretch with such things as a "magical" garden with low-cut hedges and shrubs sculpted like animals, he said.

Street performers, acrobats, mimes and face-painters will color the scene and there will be music on three stages (see schedule). Dozens of vendors will have display booths, including Studio Incamminati, the Helium Comedy Club and International House Philadelphia.

Local stomach-pleasers such as Capogiro Gelato Artisans, Miel Patisserie, Tyson Bees and Parc will serve up Philly cuisine with a French twist.

"Folks just aren't used to this size," Cambron said. And when Cambron says "size," he means it quite literally.

An 80-seat-capacity Ferris wheel will tower between Sansom and Walnut streets, hoisting families as high as 70 feet above the scene.

On Broad Street between Locust and Pine, it'll be hard to miss the 200-ton, 100-plus-foot crane that will hoist the grand finale, a giant chandelier-turned-stage on which Le Compagnie Transe Express, a troupe of 18 circus artists from Lyon, France, will offer a performance that incorporates pyrotechnic and lighting displays.

"I've . . . seen them for myself," Cambron said. "They're dazzling, unbelievable."

The three-week festival, funded through a $10 million gift from the late Philadelphia philanthropist Leonore Annenberg, incorporated about 1,500 artists, 135 events and more than 100 creative partners.

Much of the activity focused on and around the Kimmel Center, and PIFA organizers have said making the center, nearing its 10th anniversary, more user-friendly for residents was among PIFA's core missions.

To maximize what Cambron called their "playground" on the Avenue of the Arts, PIFA made some outlandish requests of the city, most of which were granted. One denied request, he said, was to put an underground skating rink in the corridors of the Walnut-Locust subway station of the Broad Street Line.

"I guess that went a little too far," Cambron said with a laugh.

Well, there's always next time.

Talks have begun for a potential 2013 festival, Cambron said. Asked to gauge the success of the debut event, he said the true measure would be in a heightened consciousness about the city's abundant arts scene.

"I want people to leave saying what [Philly] really is - a great city with wonderful art," Cambron said.

He said he got a little taste of PIFA's impact recently when he walked into the Wawa near where he lives in Queen Village.

"All of the cashiers were having a conversation about the street fair, the art, how cool it all was," Cambron said.

"That, for me, was the moment when I said, 'Wow.' Folks in all kinds of places are talking about this, appreciating this city."