IRL Holiday Tour: Philadelphia Christmas Village

Philly is a great scene for events all year round. But during the winter time, the area around City Hall (Dilworth Park, Love Park, etc.) becomes a fairly land that bumps up the Holidays spirit of residents and visitors altogether. After almost two years since many things changed worldwide, getting back to celebrating the Holidays like before is a great idea.

That's why our own native tour guide, Barb Kilmartin, takes us on an IRL tour of the Christmas Village in Philadelphia in this episode of Speedify Live. You can find out more about the history of this Christmas Market, some fun facts about the area and shows us all the things one can see and do if they’re in Philly over the Holidays!

Here are our 5 takeaways from our IRL Holiday Tour:

1. Our IRL Livestream setup is as follows: an iPhone 12 Pro on a DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Gimbal stabilizer, two Rode Wireless Go II microphones. We use a mobile hotspot and a cellular connection that are combined with Speedify. Streaming is done with Larix Broadcaster, as well as Restream Studio via RTMP link to stream to a number of livestreaming platforms.
2. After losing the last IRL stream due to battery issues, we’ve also purchased an Anker Wireless Power Bank to help us when the iPhone’s battery can’t take the Livestream on its own anymore. We also made sure to lower screen brightness to reduce battery usage!
3. Barb tells us that this is the 14th Annual Christmas Village and it grows every year! Spreading from Love Park to City Hall and the surrounding areas, this Holiday Market has it all: from the newly added merry-go-round to the Ferris wheel and ice skating rink, to all the locally-owned shops and food stalls.
4. The Philadelphia Christmas Village was modeled after the traditional German Christmas Markets. Borrowing inspiration for the stall designs, hand-crafted ornaments and presents sold, as well as the available food at the Village: bratwurst and pretzels being the most popular.
5. Philadelphia has set up Xfinity Wi-Fi Hotspots around the city, but if you’re walking from one hotspot to another, constantly reconnecting to different Wi-Fi, your livestream can easily break. But if you combine the local hotspots with your mobile data using Speedify, you will not lose connection and can avoid any Streamergencies!