MusikFest 2025

MusikFest was founded in 1984 by Jeff Parks as a way to promote Bethlehem, PA. He and his wife had visited Oktoberfest in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and other outdoor festivals and thought it would be a good to do something similar in their hometown. His first volunteers were "FOJs" -- Friends and Family of Jeff. A nine-day festival was rather ambitious, but it was successful. Forty-one years later it is still going strong.

Don remembers going to his first MusikFest in the late 1980s when Craig, his co-worker, told him about it. My first was in the early 1990s, a year after we started dating. A number of years later we bumped into Craig and his wife at MusikFest. For many years we went at least once, often discovering new bands. We took Ashley when she was little, but at some point we fell out of the habit. Don and I returned in 2021 and were disappointed by the post-Covid version. Still, we returned in 2022. When we returned this year, I really thought we went in 2023 or 2024. We must have been busy. I'm also surprised I don't have posts from other years. 

A good festing experience involves walking around Bethlehem and discovering new music. There are always some misses, but it only takes one win to be a success.

This year we went on a Monday due to our new retirement schedule with Don working many weekends at REI. We parked on Market Street for free.

After having some alumni swirl and chocolate ice cream from the Penn State Creamery on Main Street, we caught littlebird duo, with their cello friend. They play some original music, as well as covers. They will return with the rest of the band (littlebird and the bad eggs) later in the week.

We walked downhill to Plaza Tropical for Lehigh Valley's Fig for a Kiss, a Celtic band. Their tent was dancing! The story telling with music made me smile.

After dinner at Fegley's Brew Works (beet salad for me, bratwurst for Don), we stopped by Zinzenplatz to hear the Sarah Ayers Band, which hails from Easton, PA. Our timing was off and we only heard a couple of songs before they were done for the night.

Gadan, a Celtic band from Italy was our surprise favorite band this year. Don even bought their CD after closing out their set in StadtPlatz.

We left them to hear the Amish Outlaws. The name of the band was more enticing than the actual group. It didn't help they were dressed like Amish farmers singing "ABC" but the Jackson 5. Their next choice was equally odd. Their tent, the giant Festplatz (which used to house Polka music all day, every day) was overflowing with fans. We were practically next to the port-o-pots, not an ideal place to stand. We headed back up to StadtPlatz because it was the closest to our car and caught a couple of songs by Rift -- a Tribute to Phish. Not being a Phish fan, we didn't last for very long.

Ashley is planning to go to her first MusikFest. Sadly she does not remember us taking her to hear the Red Elvises with her best friend at the time, Sophie. On the positive, I suppose that means we did not traumatize her or ruin her hearing by taking her to a rock concert when she was barely two years old.