The Firebird Burns On Saturday: Everything You Need To Know

On Saturday evening, the Phoenixville Firebird will burn and the borough will be be borne anew, rising from the ashes of Friendship Field.

Or so goes the legend.

The Phoenixville Firebird Festival’s official website offers this account of the mythology of not only the firebird, but the borough itself:

In 1813, Lewis Wernwag, the owner of the first iron company built on the confluence of the French Creek and the Schuylkill River - known at the time as the French Creek Works - was looking at his furnaces one evening from a nearby hillside and saw a Phoenix in the flames. This vision inspired him to rename his company Phoenix Works. When the community that grew up around the iron works became incorporated in 1849 the name Phoenixville was a natural choice for the new borough.

This name has especial symbolic relevance for the borough today. With the closing of Phoenix Iron and Steel in the early nineteen eighties the town lost its principle industry, and subsequently went through a twenty year period of stagnation and decline. Since the turn of the new century Phoenixville has been enjoying a rebirth; with the opening of new shops and restaurants, a visitor’s center in the old Foundry Building, the continued renovation of the Colonial Theatre, the renewal of Bridge Street, and much more. Like its mythic namesake it is truly rising from its own ashes.

The Firebird Festival, however, is much more than just a group of slightly to severely inebriated folks gathered around a sacrificial bonfire on a December night in honor of a centuries-old legend.

It’s a day long celebration filled with music, artistic performances, official and unofficial gatherings. And it’s one of the most unique and iconic events in a town well known for its diverse cultural life.

The full schedule for the Festival, beginning on Saturday, December 5, is located here.

Events take place throughout the borough all day Saturday as part of the celebration.

The pageantry for the actual event will begin at 8 p.m. at Friendship Field on 203 Fillmore Street.

The lighting will take place at 8:15 p.m.

An official afterparty will be hosted by the Bistro and will serve as a fundraiser for the perpetuity of the Festival.