Registration not required
Saturday, January 3 at 11:00 AM
The Athenæum of Philadelphia invites the public to celebrate its Philadelphia First — The First Balloon Voyage in America — with a Saturday Firstival on Saturday, January 3rd from 11AM - 1PM. The event will feature a Once Upon a Nation storyteller, aeronautics expert, pop-up exhibition and fun giveaways as part of the citywide 52 Weeks of Philly Firsts celebration, a yearlong initiative highlighting Philadelphia’s pioneering spirit and 250 years of firsts in freedom, innovation, and fun. The Philadelphia Historic District 250th Committee created the 52 Weeks of Firsts for the 2026 semiquincentennial year, taking place across the City of Philadelphia in over a dozen neighborhoods.
The Athenæum is on the site of the launch of the first successful, manned balloon flight in the U.S. On January 9, 1793, French inventor and aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard ascended in a hydrogen-filled balloon from what was then the work yard of the Walnut Street Prison. President George Washington joined the crowd watching Blanchard take to the sky. Reaching an altitude of over 5800 feet, the flight lasted 46 minutes with air currents taking the balloon across the Delaware River to Woodbury, NJ, where Blanchard set it down safely.
What to learn more about Blanchard? Be sure to register for our free virtual lecture on Friday, January 9th at noon!
52 Weeks of Philly Firsts is made possible with funding from the 2026 Funder Collaborative, City of Philadelphia, and William Penn Foundation, with corporate support from PCOM, The Bellwether District, Firstrust Bank, and Fulton Bank.
Image: Woodcut by Charles R. Gardner, copyright 1931, The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company.
This is a free event.
