Lincoln Has Philly Talking

I had a great conversation with Abraham Lincoln today.

We talked about how Philadelphia was a hub, inspiration and support system for him back in the day. I expected his intelligence, his quiet intensity. What I didn’t expect was his unabashed enthusiasm. I should have known that our 16th president visited our city more than any other during his presidency. And he’s looking forward to a return trip this week, when he’ll greet the hordes flocking here to celebrate Independence Day in the best place in the world—Philadelphia, where liberty was born.

On Thursday morning, I’ll take Abe to Fox TV’s Good Day Philadelphia. He’s appearing live at 8:30 am to talk about his love of the City and the love he’s about to get back through Lincoln 200--the city’s official celebration of his 200th birthday.

Lincoln is actually Robert ‘Fritz’ Klein, the nation’s foremost Lincoln interpreter. And I couldn’t be more excited to have him on television so Philadelphia can get to know him, and the massive Lincoln 200 festival, filled with fun, education and entertainment.

Fritz fell into playing Lincoln by chance. Believe it or not, he was a landscaper in Hawaii and acting on the side when somebody noticed that he’s a dead ringer for Lincoln. It was 1976 and with all the U.S. Bicentennial events going, it was a great time to start his career as Honest Abe.

Fast forward 33 years. Fritz lives in Springfield, Illinois and travels around the country portraying the Great Emancipator. And this year—the Bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth—bookings are especially good.

Fritz’s is just one of the hundreds of interesting stories behind Lincoln 200, which goes well beyond the history books to tell Lincoln’s story—showcasing his life, his work, his interests and his influence.

There’s something for everyone at the Festival which runs through July 5 on Independence Mall. Want to be entertained? Check out the play, “My Dear Mrs. Lincoln,” watch the Lincoln Bicentennial Tap Celebration as incredible dancers pay tribute to tap’s origins in slavery, or “Ask Abe” (aka Fritz) your burning questions. Are you a science buff? You’ll love the College of Physicians’ forensic look at the Lincoln assassination (I can’t wait for that one!) and the Academy of Natural Sciences’ Hadrosaurus Foulkii dinosaur, which was found in Haddonfield a year prior to Lincoln’s election.

If you’ve got little ones, then Lincoln for Kids is the place to be for make and take crafts, face painting, jugglers, stilt walkers and of course, Lincoln Logs!

And, if you’re purely a history buff like I am, you’ve got to see the locket containing a lock of Lincoln’s hair, a cast of his face and hands and a large swath of the flag he raised at Independence Hall in 1861, all from the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia.

Lincoln 200 is a labor of love of two incredible women—Dianne Semingson, a good friend of Simon PR’s since our days representing the YMCA of Philadelphia & Vicinity and Mary Hagy, a new friend and one who is incredibly passionate about keeping our city’s civil war history riches right where they belong—in Philadelphia.

The two are founders of the Civil War History Consortium and Lincoln 200. Their mission: to help our region realize a new tourism opportunity in the story of Philadelphia as the engine that drove the Union victory at Gettysburg and nationally.

In an op-ed that Simon PR placed about Lincoln 200 in The Philadelphia Inquirer they wrote: “It will whet the appetites of the million or more expected to visit Independence Mall over the July 4 weekend. It will also set the stage for the region’s long-planned commemoration of the Civil War’s 150th anniversary set to begin in 2011. By 2015, we look forward to the road between Philadelphia and Gettysburg being worn bare by busloads of tourists eager to experience the state’s rich Civil War history.”

In the meantime, there will be boatloads of tourists and area residents alike on Independence Mall this weekend for Lincoln 200. I hope they all get to talk to Abe, and walk away as excited as I am to discover his Philadelphia story.

-Bev Volpe