Made in America festival will stay on the Parkway

After a taxing few days, during which the fate of Jay-Z’s huge music festival Made in America was uncertain, Philly Mayor Jim Kenney announced Monday that the festival would remain at its usual place on The Parkway for “years to come.”

The announcement came following reports that the Labor Day Weekend festival, which has been held on The Benjamin Franklin Parkway since 2012, would be moving off the Parkway in 2019, and possibly out of Philly entirely, BillyPenn first reported last week.

The news prompted outcry across the board for the wildly popular festival, which has drawn around 50,000 people to the Parkway in the past. Among that outcry was an Op-Ed penned by Jay-Z himself on Philly.com. In the piece, the rapper decried the decision and voiced his upset at learning of the news via the media rather than a sit-down meeting with the mayor.

That sit-down meeting came a few days later, followed by the announcement Monday afternoon, saying that the festival would remain on The Parkway, and suggesting the issue was the result of a “miscommunication.”

“The Made in America festival belongs in Philadelphia – the birthplace of our country – and I’m optimistic that we can turn an unfortunate misunderstanding into a positive outcome and even stronger event,” Kenney wrote in the announcement.

Desiree Perez, Chief Operating Officer of Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s entertainment company, said in the same announcement, that the “miscommunication is corrected,” and that the festival would continue on The Parkway indefinitely.

It’s unclear what the nature of the miscommunication was, or what specifically was said during the meeting.

This year’s festival will see popular acts like Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, and Meek Mill take the stage.

• Jay-Z’s Made in America will not be on the Parkway next year [BillyPenn]
• Jay-Z on Made in America [Philly.com]
• MIA Lineup [Made in America]