Last year, the Cedar Street Block Party became internationally famous. If you think you haven’t heard of it, you probably have: That was the party with the dumpster pool.
Yes, THE dumpster pool. The one that made headlines across the country (and world) after Billy Pennreported on how innovative adventure-seeker Justyn Myers created a sidewalk swimming hole out of a trash container, sparking a witty but scathing response from the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections.
“We are not screwing around, Philly,” said L&I in a statement warning against copycats. That same statement also noted the department would not issue any future event permits to the entire 2400 block of Cedar Street.
This is what replaced Philly’s world-famous dumpster pool this year!
But that wasn’t enough to stop Myers, who also leads a progressive Mummers troupe and is known for his uncanny ability to find cliff-jumping spots around Philly.
Myers’ efforts started this spring when he found himself at the Streets Department for work (his day job is in architectural design) and he realized he was in front of the same desk that issues the permits. “Can I have my block party this year?” he asked the woman sitting there. She looked up his address, and then started giggling. “You’re crazy, swimming in a dumpster!” she said, and the whole office cracked up laughing about the incident.
He asked how to go about fixing the situation, and the official put him in touch with her supervisors. After emailing back and forth for months and being bumped from person to person with no progress ….
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