Philadelphia FIFA Fan Festival bracelets available through time slot process due to high demand
Since the gates at Lemon Hill's FIFA Fan Festival opened to soccer fans from far and wide earlier this month, one piece of memorabilia has emerged as the ultimate World Cup souvenir: A commemorative charm bracelet courtesy of Bank of America.
The customizable bracelets, known as Fan Bands, are being offered at all 11 host city Fan Fest locations, but became an incredibly hot commodity in Philly almost immediately.
Fans can choose from a wide selection of World Cup and Philadelphia-themed charms, like the World Cup trophy, soccer cleats, the LOVE statue and the Liberty Bell, to add to their band. And the best part? They're free.
So it's not surprising that lines to get the Fan Bands have been hundreds of people deep for the last two weeks. Some fans on social media say they waited hours in line to make their bracelets. Others say by the time they made it to the front, they were offered a pre-made bracelet and told to come back again.
Now in order to streamline the process and help more Fan Fest visitors get their bracelets, organizers are putting a new time-slot process into effect.
Here's how it works:
- Fan Fest staff will distribute colored wristbands to attendees at the gates before the festival gets underway.
- If those wristbands run out before the gates open, fans can still go to the Bank of America booth to get a wristband for a later time slot.
- The color of your wristband corresponds to a specific, 1-hour time slot.
- During that time, head to the Bank of America booth to create your custom band. Wristbands are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
While Philadelphia is set to host three more World Cup matches, the FIFA Fan Festival will remain open through the end of the entire tournament.
The remaining Philadelphia matches are between Curaçao and Ivory Coast on Thursday, June 25 at 4 p.m., Croatia vs Ghana on Saturday, June 27 at 5 p.m., and a Round of 16 match on Saturday, July 4 at 5 p.m.
