Arts & recreation spawn Shad Festival in Fishtown

BACK IN THE COLD spring of 1778, with starvation not far from many, soldiers in George Washington's army scoured the banks of the Schuylkill for food.

What they found, in many instances, was a thick, bony, flavorful fish racing upstream to spawn. According to a Historical Society of Pennsylvania publication, the shad runs were uncommonly rich and "probably saved the lives of many Continental soldiers, men who had been reduced to eating boiled boots over the long winter."

Later, the spring shad runs up the Delaware River would give rise to the 19th-century village of Fishtown, home to several dozen fisheries.

While there are no longer any shad fisheries along the Delaware or Schuylkill in these parts, foodies in a reviving Fishtown have decided to celebrate the traditional spawn time with this weekend's Fishtown Shad Festival.

"We think it is time to commemorate the historic roots of Fishtown, and what better way than to honor the shad," said Paul Kimport, president of the Fishtown Area Business Association and owner of Johnny Brenda's and Standard Tap.

The Fishtown Shad Festival, while certainly directing visitors to those and other eateries and clubs in Fishtown and adjacent Northern Liberties, will mostly be about the arts, the environment and recreation along the river. It will be centered at Penn Treaty Park, along the river at Delaware and Columbia avenues, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. (Rain date is Sunday.)

"We've had a few festivals in Fishtown, but now I would like to see the whole city come up here and see what it's like," said Kimport, who will do some shad-cooking demonstrations.

Local arts and crafts vendors will be dotted around the park selling their wares. The Pennsylvania Environmental Council will set up makeshift docks for free kayak rides for those brave enough to want to paddle along the Delaware. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and local environmental groups will have booths, workshops and kids' educational activities.

Kimport is encouraging all sorts of transportation to and around the festival. In addition to the kayaking, the festival will cater to bicyclists with valet bike parking by the Neighborhood Bike Works. The Fishtown Beer Runners are sponsoring a 5K event - The Shad Run.

There will be trolley tours around the neighborhood with historian Ken Milano, and there will, to be sure, be Fishtown music with Hoots and Hellmouth.