MLB All-Star Game caps off summer of sports, celebrations in city: "Philadelphians are the MVPs of this summer"

There were kids taking swings in the batting cage, a family jumping the home run wall, and folks lined up for pictures with Roberto Clemente Jr. in front of an oversized baseball. The last day of the MLB All-Star Village brought big crowds (mostly in Phillies swag) to Philadelphia.

And across the city on Tuesday, Phillies pride was everywhere.

"We're so pumped, man," said Gregory Gorski, who is from Northeast Philly. "This has been years in the making for this."

"As a Phillies fan, this is like the best thing ever. Just loving it. It's just the best year," Jessica Woodward, of Wilmington, said.

But the All-Star festivities also mark the wind-down of what has been a jam-packed summer filled with crowds, sports and celebrations. 

As Anne Ryan, Pennsylvania's deputy secretary for tourism, put it: "This is the culmination of the biggest summer Philadelphia has ever seen."

And big it was. 

Starting in May, the PGA Championship at Aronimink brought tens of thousands of people to the Philadelphia suburbs. A few weeks later, we kicked off the "summer of soccer," with Philadelphia hosting six 2026 Men's World Cup matches and a 39-day FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill.

The international soccer spectacle brought people from all around the world. Officials reported more than 400,000 people attended matches at Philadelphia Stadium. 

Ryan said the current count at Lemon Hill shows more than 440,000 people have gone through the festival.

All of this happened in the midst of celebrating America's 250th birthday in the city where it all started — another event tourism officials say brought in the crowds.

"The July Fourth weekend, we saw our hotel occupancy rates soar into 90% of hotel rooms being booked," Ryan said.

Tourism folks like Ryan love those numbers, saying they bring money into the city and state, and they hope that people who came here once will return. 

But Ryan said the onslaught of events gives officials the tools to bring in even more big acts in the future.

"Being an underdog is part of our DNA here in Philadelphia, and we should never lose that," Ryan said. "But I think we're coming out as a top dog."

Mary Lee Gorski, of Northeast Philadelphia, described the summer one way: "Busy. Extremely busy."

But she and her crew didn't miss a moment.

"We haven't missed an event yet. We've been to World Cup. We've been to all the All-Star celebrations. We haven't missed a single thing yet," said Brett Macminn, who was with the Gorskis outside the All-Star Red Carpet event on Monday.

Gorski said the summer has been a great way to show our city to the world.

"All these fans coming in from different countries for FIFA," she said. "Everybody coming in from different states for the All-Star game. It's given people the chance to really see Philly when we shine, and I think we shined incredible this summer."

"The way that Philadelphians have showed up, welcomed the world, come out, supported teams, gone to Fan Fest, Citizens Bank Park last night was electric," Ryan said. "Philadelphians are the MVPs of this summer."

A summer that many folks will remember, but they aren't sure it'll be topped anytime soon.

"No, never," Woodward said. "It's been great."

"I hope so. I hope there's another," Gorski said. "50 years from now?"

"In terms of hosting major events and bringing the kind of energy we brought to the city, we can top it," Ryan said. "And we will top it."