Springtime is finally here, and with it comes the Easter holiday. There are plenty of ways to celebrate this weekend—both with traditional and off-the-beaten-path events and activities.
Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar’s Havana Easter Celebration
For one day only, Old City’s home to all-things Havana offer a spicy, Easter-focused Cuban meal focused on communion (table platters such as Plato Cha Cha Cha’s shrimp cocktail, pork masitas, chicken and ham croquetas and chorizo sausage; a Cuban Pork Feast served tableside atop a terracotta pig grill), Chino-Latino delights such as glazed pork and beef Dragon Street Meatballs, along with a Cuban Roast Pork entree with an onion-caper mojo. For those who like their holy holiday with a couple of cocktails, Cuba Libre’s Easter Punch is filled with several potent rums, Licor 43 and a marshmallow Peep. Join the tasty fun this Sunday, March 31.
B. Simone at Helium Comedy Club
Best known as the most comic cast member on MTV’s ‘Wild N’ Out’, B. Simone is an Instagram influencer and filmmaker whose new album, ‘Stack Now Cry Later’, features a track (‘F%$#&y Video’) that is more than a little sacrilegious for Good Friday airing. But Simone’s stand up comedy is outrageously raunchy and funny, and hits the stage at Helium this Friday and Saturday, March 29 and 30.
South Street’s 91st Annual Easter Promenade
This launch down South Street and Headhouse Square is still the mainstay of Philly’s Easter weekend celebration — a daytime parade that offers children a chance to get their photos taken with Mr. and Mrs. Cotton Tail—as well as everyone’s favorite mascot, the Phillie Phanatic. There will also be costume prizes and, of course, the South Street Egg Hunt. Everything starts this Sunday, March 31, at 12:30 p.m. at 5th and South streets, ends at Headhouse Plaza on 2nd and Lombard streets, and promises no judgement if you choose to wear tall ears.
southstreet.com/events/91st-annual-easter-promenade
Mister Mann’s Jam Band Jam Session
If you’re looking to go to church, and you can’t wait for Sunday mass, Philly-favored multi-instrumentalist and live curator Mister Mann’s epic jam party at the Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center is for you. Along with musical director-drummer Sunny Dee and Mann’s elite crew of players and vocalists, this adventurous Jam Session (now celebrating its 11th anniversary) is all about merging the sounds of gospel and sacred soul to R&B, hip hop and jazz. Plan to stay out late, too. The show takes place on Saturday, March 30, at 7 p.m.
Seaview Hotel and Golf Club’s Brunch and Beyond
On the way to Atlantic City, Galloway, New Jersey’s Seaview Hotel and Golf Club celebrates 110 years of its annual Easter Brunch this Sunday, March 31. It’s heavy on the snow crab claws, salmon and a genuine Catholic holiday treat, bone-in baked Pulaski ham. Beyond the brunch, however, the luxury seaside resort space along Reed’s Bay, is open and gorgeous (670 acres), and you can putt all day, with its two championship golf courses.
Beat the Bunny Axe Throwing at Kick Axe Philly
This seems a little aggressive at first glance — as if this poor holiday bunny is the target of our wrath — until you realize that everyone drinking Sunday mimosas will actually be in competition with a large, axe wielding, blade tossing Easter Bunny. There are card games and boardgames to participate in, but I dare say that challenging an oversized rabbit to a game of physical skill and sharp instruments on 2nd and Market streets sounds like a thrill. It all goes down this Sunday, March 31.
