When I think of them – the decadent, the nonchalant, the insouciant, the French – I perpetually see them seated in street-corner cafés, hands delicately wrapped around porcelain tea cups as wisps of cigarette smoke curl, serpentine, around elaborate headdresses and charcoal-colored fedoras.

To me, the French are the human personification of romance.

So I find it fitting that the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), a celebration of art, inspiration, power, grace, emotion and passion – the very definition of the romantic – is based on the artistic experimentation and innovation happening in Paris from 1910-1920.

Yes, to me, the French are all about decadence – lounging beneath gray-painted skies, indulging in robust Bordeauxs, shopping on the Champs-Elysées – and I can think of nothing more decadent than shutting down the busiest street in Philadelphia for 12 hours and filling it with a Ferris Wheel, a 55 by 80 foot grass-laden garden park, not one but two stages and suspending a troupe of French circus artists from a 250-ton crane and having them perform 100-feet off the ground.

Such is the PIFA Street Fair, happening this Saturday, April 30 from 11am-7pm on South Broad Street from Chestnut to Lombard Streets.

A crowning moment on top of a series of artistic and inspirational moments, the PIFA Street Fair is expected to attract over 50,000 patrons from around the mid-Atlantic region. There will be street performers, musical guests as varied as the Brazilian-inspired PhillyBloco to indie-rock stars The Thermals, over 40 food vendors and tons of family programming.

Food. Music. Art. Dancing. This, my friends, is true joie de vivre.

*Please be sure to come visit me — I’ll be in the Theatre Alliance tent at the Plays & Players table. Stop by and get entered into a raffle to win two free tickets to our upcoming production of Lost in Yonkers!