Banko Beverage President Tony Gallo joins Lehigh Valley with Love at Musikfest to talk about the family business, its relationship with the festival and where the beverage industry is heading.
Banko supplies bars, restaurants and retailers across ten counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. Gallo discusses the importance of spending time with those local businesses, supporting smaller brands and growing Banko’s selection of non-alcoholic, sports and wellness drinks.
He also shares his own Musikfest traditions, including people-watching, waiting all week for Go Go Gadjet and trying as much festival food as possible. His advice for first-time visitors is simple: Start at Aw Shucks and figure it out from there.
Banko Beverage Company is a strong supporter of Lehigh Valley with Love. Follow Banko on Instagram for daily Musikfest ticket giveaways, behind-the-scenes videos and more throughout the year.
Musikfest Preview Night arrives Thursday, July 30, followed by 10 days of music, food, art and nearly unavoidable reunions throughout Bethlehem from Friday, July 31 through Sunday, August 9.
For the fifth annual Mayor’s Musikfest Preview Podcast, we set up at StadtPlatz outside Bethlehem City Hall with Mayor J. William Reynolds and eight guests who plan the festival, perform on its stages, volunteer behind the scenes and help create the community around it.
The 43rd Musikfest features more than 400 performers and 500 performances across 16 stages, 15 of which are free.
Mayor Reynolds described Musikfest as a shared experience that cannot be recreated through a screen.
“You can’t one-up somebody else’s experience. What happens there is that it brings people together, and it shows us what’s possible when we’re focused on people.”
Building a temporary city
ArtsQuest President and CEO Kassie Hilgert started with the people responsible for turning more than 50 acres of Bethlehem into the country’s largest free music festival.
“It takes 5,000 people to put this festival up and to tear it down. You’ve got volunteers that are taking 10 days from their vacation time at work to support this festival.”
Hilgert also made a direct appeal for people to support the vendors, restaurants, hotels, artists and cultural organizations that keep events like Musikfest alive.
Patrick Brogan, ArtsQuest’s Chief Programming Officer, said more than 2,000 artists applied to perform this year. The final program includes 417 artists presenting 512 sets, with roughly one-third of the festival changing each year.
His advice is simple:
“Follow your ears through the festival.”
Turn a corner, stop at an unfamiliar stage and stay long enough to find the artist who could become your next favorite.
“The soundtrack of Bethlehem”
Miguel Perez-Soto has experienced Musikfest as an ArtsQuest board member, a musician, a B. Braun Medical employee and a supporter who has been attending for 25 years.
He has also watched Musikfest and ArtsQuest’s year-round programming grow to represent more of the cultures found throughout Bethlehem.
“Musikfest is the soundtrack of Bethlehem. We’re going to have a great time doing this for the next 10 days, but throughout the year, Bethlehem always has the initiative to reinvent itself and put events together for the entire family, for the entire community.”
A place where everyone can Fest
Richard Liu helped lead the creation of SoberPlatz, the inclusive alcohol-free space that returns to the SouthSide for its second year. Located near Americaplatz and the Flywheel, SoberPlatz offers room to relax, activities, recovery resources and a community that does not revolve around drinking.
Everyone is welcome. The only request is that visitors not bring alcohol into the space.
Liu shared the response that showed exactly why SoberPlatz was needed.
“I’ve had people tell me they didn’t feel like they could Fest until SoberPlatz was there.”
For Liu, Musikfest ultimately comes back to people.
“It’s the volunteers that I see year after year and become friends with. It’s the friendships with performers who come back year after year. It’s the community members who I see and become friends with. It’s the people.”
WDIY Executive Director Margaret McConnell described the station as another community organization powered largely by volunteers.
WDIY was built by community members who wanted their own radio station. Its programming still reflects that original mission.
“Picking hand-curated music, no algorithms involved. Very little automation. This is really led by this community, for this community.”
ArtsQuest ambassador-level volunteer Robin Sherrerd has poured beer, sold tickets, worked with the Eco Squad and served as a site supervisor.
“I worked my way up to site supervisor and enjoyed every bit of it because of the camaraderie that we have with all of the other volunteers.”
Those relationships continue after the tents come down. Sherrerd said many volunteers have become friends who see one another and spend time together throughout the year.
Two Bethlehem artists step onto the stage
Bethlehem country artist Lilly Moss opens for Russell Dickerson at the Wind Creek Steel Stage on Friday, July 31. She returns Sunday, August 2 for a free Main Street performance.
Two years ago, Moss opened a fortune cookie while attending the Maren Morris concert at Musikfest.
“I opened a fortune cookie and it said, ‘You will make a name for yourself.’”
She kept and framed the fortune. Now she plans to carry it onto the largest stage she has ever played.
Moss said she no longer becomes more nervous as the crowds grow.
“As the crowds get bigger, I get more excited. I feed off the energy and the adrenaline.”
Jenny Founds performs with Ruby Dear at Zinzenplatz from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Sunday, August 2. The Bethlehem alternative-rock trio is expanding for a special Ruby Dear Big Band performance featuring additional musicians from Start Making Sense.
Founds performs original music with Ruby Dear and Talking Heads music with Start Making Sense. She sees value in both.
“I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘I’ve never heard you before, but I can relate to your lyrics, and I’ve never felt seen like that.’ So both are valid, and both give opportunities to musicians.”
A free Musikfest stage gives original artists something particularly valuable: people who were walking past, heard something interesting and decided to enter the tent.
The Musikfest must-do list
Mayor Reynolds and George also shared a few rules for getting the most out of Musikfest:
Put the phone away.
Spend time with someone you unexpectedly run into.
Buy at least one thing.
Watch an artist perform original music.
Show someone your favorite Musikfest spot.
Try a food you are not completely sure about.
Leave one night open and see where Musikfest takes you.
Musikfest Preview Night is Thursday, July 30. The full festival runs Friday, July 31 through Sunday, August 9.
Get the complete schedule and download the official app at Musikfest.org.
Musikfest 2026 is turning up the feel-good factor early.
ArtsQuest has announced a first look at next year’s free stage lineup, and two familiar names are already giving this summer soundtrack some serious throwback energy: Sixpence None the Richer and Ryan Cabrera.
Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks will return for its 16th season with a packed lineup of free outdoor concerts at the ArtsQuest Campus at SteelStacks in Bethlehem.
We sat down with the creators of Amusing Ourselves to Death: Sketch Comedy for the End Times, a new live sketch comedy show coming to SteelStacks on Saturday, April 18, 2026, at the Bethlehem Visitor Center at SteelStacks in Bethlehem.
Created by Christy Devlin, Justin Passino, and Jiah Peck, the show promises a fast, funny slide through pop culture obsession, cursed technology, social anxiety, and what its creators describe as “the healing power of brunch.” The night also features live music from Matt Asti, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and the show beginning at 7:30 p.m.
New York-born, Macungie based R&B and neo-soul artist Maniya joins us ahead of her April 11, 2026 performance at ArtsQuest’s Fowler Blast Furnace Room in Bethlehem.
Known as “Songbird,” Maniya has been building her sound since childhood, performing with Harlem’s Emmy Award-winning Gospel for Teens choir, studying vocal performance at Berklee College of Music, and now stepping further into the spotlight with her own music.
In this episode, we talk about her background, her artistic style, and what people can expect from Covered in Soul, an intimate live show that reimagines classic R&B, pop, and soul through her own voice and perspective. We also touch on her single “Curious,” her upcoming EP Dear Diary, and the path that continues to shape her as both an artist and vocal coach.
Poets for Justice is bringing its “Unplugged: Speak Your Truth” spoken word showcase to Bethlehem on Sunday, March 8, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. The event will take place at the Bethlehem Visitor Center at SteelStacks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Hill previously served as JuxtaHub’s Chief Programming Officer, where he helped expand the organization’s programming and public access to its Emmaus facility. JuxtaHub says his work has supported the nonprofit’s early growth and increased community participation.
“The sermon was about the circumcision of Baby Jesus.” That’s how Lisa VanArsdale describes a recent trip to a mega-church in Phoenix, and it is exactly the kind of unexpected, funny, and slightly unsettling real-world moment that fuels her live show, Lisa Joins a Cult, coming back to Bethlehem this month.
ArtsQuest is bringing back the SteelStacks Improv Comedy Festival for its 13th year, turning Bethlehem’s SteelStacks campus into two packed days of fast, unscripted comedy. The festival runs Friday, January 23 and Saturday, January 24, 2026, featuring improvisational teams from across the region and around the country.
ArtsQuest and Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks in Bethlehem, PA have opened a call for artists to create the signature artwork for the 2026 free concert season. The selected piece will become the visual identity for one of the Lehigh Valley’s largest community music series.
Families can ring in the New Year at Bethlehem’s SteelStacks as ArtsQuest and Just Born Quality Confections bring back PEEPSFEST® 2025. The two-day family celebration runs December 30 and 31 from 3 to 6 p.m., filled with live entertainment, hands-on activities, crafts, and plenty of PEEPS®-themed fun.
ArtsQuest, in partnership with Embassy Bank and Phoebe Ministries, will host its annual Veterans Day Q&A Panel on Monday, November 10, at 9:30 a.m. in the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.
The Lehigh Valley’s comedy scene takes center stage this fall with the premiere of Popcorn Pushers: Season 01, a darkly funny new sitcom from creator Jiah Peck and his production team, Pigeon City. The series follows the eccentric staff of a struggling movie theater secretly owned by loan sharks, inspired by Peck’s real-life experiences working at Regal Cinemas in Quakertown and the County Theater in Doylestown.
