PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 28, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Celebrate the heritage and history of the former Soviet Union's republics during the "Russian Mosaic" Festival at Penn's Landing. For the fourth year, the Russian speaking community of Philadelphia will join together to rejoice in the rich traditions of their culture. This free festival will take place at the Great Plaza at Penn's Landing, on Columbus Boulevard at Chestnut Street on Saturday, September 9, 2006, from Noon -- 7:00 p.m. Independence Blue Cross is the presenting sponsor of the 2006 Summer Season at Penn's Landing.
"The festival is named Russian Mosaic because so many different people and businesses from various walks of life come together on this day," said Marina Kats, president of the Russian Americans Chamber of Commerce. "Each represents a different piece of the Russian Mosaic," continues Kats.
The festival has an exciting day planned, packed with music, dance and entertainment. The concert program is set to showcase the community's exciting and original folk, classical and ballroom dancing performers. Young performers include students from the Ballet School of Olga Kresina, Dance School of Julia Yaremchuk, and child performers from Cultural Center of Children's Creativity "Rising Stars" will dance and perform. Returning from last year will be the popular Klezmer Band of Mark Sobol.
In addition to the music and dancing, Russian, Jewish, Georgian, Moldavian and Middle Asian cuisine will be available. There will be many artisans presenting traditional Russian crafts including woodcarvings, paintings, jewelry, needlework and photography. The Kabala Learning Group, Lubavitch Center for Russian Jewry, the Russian Christian Mission and other organizations will represent different aspects of the rich and diverse spiritual life of the community.
This free event is presented by PECO and organized by the many local non-profit organizations including: Russian-Americans Chamber of Commerce, The Creative Collective Arts Center, "Big Heart, Inc" and Mid-Atlantic-Russia Business Council. This annual event became an important event for the organizers in order to publicize the importance of their community in the Philadelphia region. For more information on the Festival, please visit www.russianmosaic.org or www.business.russianmosaic.org
Admission is free for all PECO Multicultural Series events. PECO presents a series of free multicultural festivals throughout the summer season on the Great Plaza at Penn's Landing.
Supporting the region's diversity has been a longstanding goal for PECO, who has sponsored the multicultural festivals at Penn's Landing for the past ten years. "All of us at PECO are thrilled to return again to the waterfront to support the multicultural festivals," said PECO president Denis O'Brien. "Penn's Landing is a Philadelphia summertime tradition and the PECO Multicultural Series is a fun way for us to celebrate the wide range of diversity represented in our service territory."
PECO is proud to be Philadelphia's hometown energy company and one of the region's most prominent civic supporters. PECO is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and celebrating diversity inside and outside the Company.
Based in Philadelphia, PECO is an electric and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC). PECO serves 1.6 million electric and 470,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 2004, the company delivered 37.5 million megawatt-hours (Mwh) of electricity and 87.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas to residential, business and institutional customers. PECO's energy delivery services generated $4.49 billion in revenue for Exelon.
Founded in 1881, PECO is one of the Greater Philadelphia region's most active corporate citizens, providing leadership, volunteer and financial support to numerous arts and culture, education, environmental, economic development and community programs and organizations.
Public Programming at Penn's Landing would not be possible without our presenting sponsor Independence Blue Cross and the continued support of PECO, Commerce Bank, Pennsylvania Lottery and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, all of whom are committed to serving the Greater Philadelphia community.
Penn's Landing Corporation is the non-profit organization responsible for funding and producing public programming at Penn's Landing. Independence Blue Cross is the presenting sponsor of the 2006 Summer Season at Penn's Landing, featuring free programming every weekend Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. All events produced by Penn's Landing Corporation are free to the public, and on the Great Plaza, the heart of Penn's Landing, Philadelphia's premier riverfront entertainment destination.
The Penn's Landing Corporation logo is available at http://media.primezone.com/prs/single/?pkgid=349
For more information on event locations and event details, please call (215) 922-2FUN or visit www.pennslandingcorp.com. The Penn's Landing Corporation website is a virtual resource for the waterfront where visitors can plan to park, play and stay all day at Penn's Landing.