Uptown Rhythm Festival draws hundreds as Philadelphia community comes together to celebrate jazz, each other

Jazz took center stage Thursday on Ogontz Avenue in Philadelphia for the second annual Uptown Rhythm Festival. 

Hundreds of people gathered at the festival, where they set up tents and lawn chairs to watch and listen to several musicians perform.

The Uptown Rhythm Festival started in 2025, helping replace the West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival that ended in 2011. 

Community members were appreciative of the return of the festival for the second year in a row, telling CBS News Philadelphia that the event helped bring the neighborhood together. 

"I have received so many phone calls about the festival. Everybody has been calling me," Eric Goodwin, who lives on Ogontz Avenue, said. "I love music. I love the festival. When it was first here, in 2006, we loved it. A lot of community getting together. For us to get this back for the last couple of years, we really, really appreciate it."

The event also featured dozens of food vendors as well as booths with community resources, including resources that helped people register to vote.

The festival may have been about music, but it was also about uplifting the spirit of the community. 

"The community is just loving this," Kim Lloyd with the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation said. "And simply because of this, it gives them an opportunity to showcase their neighborhood as well as bring family and friends out for a great day."