🚢 The Ikea boat vs. time

🚢 The Clock Is Ticking for the ‘Ikea Boat’

Earlier this week, a judge denied the SS United States Conservancy’s request for additional time to make arrangements for the ship to leave its dock in South Philly. A plan for moving the ship must be finalized by Sept. 12. [Inquirer 🔒]

• Context: Last year, Inquirer reporter Ximena Conde gave us a rundown of the legal troubles and long, storied history of this massive vessel. [City Cast Philly 🎧]

📈 High COVID Activity in PA

The U.S. is experiencing a big summer surge of COVID-19, and so is Pennsylvania. A local public health expert has advice on how long to isolate if you catch it to keep others around you safe. [WHYY]

🌊 ‘FloatLab’ Coming to the Schuylkill

Mural Arts Philadelphia and Bartram’s Garden are collaborating to build a floating, lime green boat launch/fishing spot/educational space/art gallery on the river. Assembly will start this fall, with a projected opening date of summer 2026. [PhillyVoice]

👋 Farewell for Now, Public Pools

Some city pools have already closed for the season, and the rest will be shutting down on a rolling basis through Labor Day. Here’s the schedule. [City of Philadelphia]

It’s “Where Is It” Wednesday! I’m back with our latest local art challenge, where I show you a photo of a publicly accessible work, and you tell me where in Philly it can be found. We’ll start by revealing the answer to last week’s mystery mural, pictured above.

🥁 Drumroll, please … you can find this cutie pie at Thompson & Sergeant Streets in Port Richmond.

📖 Here’s the story: Painted in 2017, this piece is part of a series of Philly animal murals by the local art nonprofit V.U.R.T. According to the blog Streets Dept, Port Richmond resident Natalie Shaak led a crowdfunding campaign to make this large scale pretzel raccoon happen, and additional donations went toward the maintenance of the playground it faces.

🏅 Congrats to the Hey Philly readers who recognized the location: Treshia H., Kristin S., Thomas B., Genesis G., Alma C., Michelle Q., Eric S., Lauren C., Morgan S., and Ron C.!

Ugh, now I really want a pretzel. Anyway! Moving on to this week’s challenge, submitted by Kathy L.:

Do you know where you can find this statue? If so, let me know here, or by replying to this email. Be as specific as you can — and no Googling, please!