A Look at the Real Impact of Pop-Up Beer Gardens

Now that the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Pop-Up Garden has been put to bed for its fourth season, This Old City has weighed in with a look back over its history and growth.

In the 2014 season, a reported 52,200 people visited the PHS garden at 15th and South streets — that figure, says This Old City, is almost double the number of people that hit the 2013 version on Broad Street. And 2013's garden saw a fourfold increase over the garden's first two iterations, owing to the addition of food and drink options.

Of course, the creative use of licensing that allowed for this and other beer gardens to pop up was the source of some controversy this year, as some brick-and-mortar bars cried foul. But that threat seems to have been quelled, at least for now, and This Old City talks to nearby businesses — like the Quick Fixx and Bob & Barbara's — who found the pop-up garden to be a significant boon to their operations. The whole article is definitely worth a read.