Federal Hill Summer Festival!!

Hey everyone! Let's do something a little different this week and check out Federal Hill's Summer Festival! The annual event is always a great time.

Unless you're brand new to the state, you've likely already heard of Federal Hill. Providence's celebrated "Little Italy" neighborhood is known for their fantastic food and nightlife. During the summer the Federal Hill Commerce Association hosts Al Fresco on the Hill, where the main avenue that cuts through the heart of the neighborhood is closed to traffic to allow pedestrians to walk about freely. It's always a nice night to walk between the various bars and restaurants.

When it comes to their festivals, think of it as a dialed up Al Fresco on the Hill night. Atwells Avenue will be closed to traffic and the street will be filled of people enjoying a night on the town. Various vendors will line the street selling pretty much anything. Food vendors are always out in force if you're hungry. The bars and restaurants will have outdoor bars with drink specials. As of the last festival, the city has yet to crackdown on open containers/drinks within festival grounds like they have with PVD Fest and Pride. Not sure if that will suddenly change for this festival, but we should be able to walk around freely with our drinks. It's fun to peruse the vendors while sipping a negroni or in many of our cases a giant bucket (or a bag randomly last time lol) of rum punch.

There will also be live performers at multiple stages up and down Atwells Avenue. The schedule is not yet posted. so we're not sure how late they will be performing. I don't see it on their website, so maybe it's not in the cards. However, there may be a carnival with rides and games we can check out as well. I believe it was there last year. Though, they may be saving that for their Columbus Day festival in October.

Please double check the start location on the morning of the event just incase we amend our plans due to the weather. Ours usually has an outdoor bar, so let's meet there. Eddie will make sure to wear a loud shirt so we stick out, and we'll post out exact location in the comments. The bar usually offers some interesting drink specials and there's other outdoor bars nearby since it's near the heart of the festival grounds.

Typically festivals are a little difficult with a large group. If we have a good number of people we may pick a spot as our base. That way people can splinter off in smaller groups to explore the vendors without having to worry finding the group later. I know some people like to take their time shopping while others like to keep moving. Ours may be a good regroup area so long as there isn't a stage too close. If we go that route we'll outline everything in the comments at the start of the event. If there's not a ton of us though, we could explore together.

Anyway this is already getting long haha

Obviously, parking in the area around the Hill is going to be a nightmare. It may be a good night to consider a rideshare, if it's feasible. If you do plan on driving make sure to budget time for finding parking and walking over to the Hill if you have to park a bit of a distance away. Even if we don't treat our starting spot as a regroup base, we'll be there for thirty minutes to one hour to give people time to find the group.

Also this is an outdoor focused event, so we are at the will of the weather gods. If there's rain we may need to pivot our plans, so keep an eye on the comments leading up to the start of the event.

Ok...I think this post is long enough lol Please reach out to the host(s) if you have any questions or leave a comment. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

https://federalhillprov.com/festivals/federal-hill-summer-festival/