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Musikfest, Then and Now |
Where were you in 1984? I was living in New York at the time and didn’t have a clue that less than 150 miles southwest of there, in the picturesque city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a small grassroots music festival was getting started that year called Musikfest. Now, over twenty years later, that small festival has thrived and grown and has become one of the world’s largest free music festivals. Even in its first year, though, it was a fairly impressive event; nearly 182,000 people attended the festival that first year and there were 118 performers and 295 performances on six stages.
You probably know that now Musikfest is a huge fun music festival in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (a great town, I really like it!) where Red Elvises play one weekend nearly every year. But how much do you know about the festival's past and what it's really all about? Musikfest, according to a letter written the very first year, is many things. It is a tribute to the musical heritage of America. Many early |
Mostly though, Musikfest is a celebration! A celebration of amazing talent, musical and cultural heritage, summer, being outside with friends and family (although in this heat it might be best to stay under a tent as much as possible!) and just in general a great time.
It is also one of the most fun places you can go on your summer vacation, especially the weekend Red Elvises play there!
No one knew how many years this event would be held or how large and massively popular it would grow. Now it is a ten-day musical spectacular attended by more than a million people from throughout the country and it showcases nearly every musical style imaginable. Today it features more than 300 performers from everywhere you can think of in America and beyond, ten fantastic nights of headline entertainment, including Our Favorite Band just about every year, and musical programming at thirteen different indoor and outdoor stages with nine of those stages providing great entertainment absolutely free! There is also great food (and beer!), activities and fun for children and a spectacular (I’ve heard) closing-night fireworks display.
Musikfest 2006 takes place August 4th–13th and, best of all, Red Elvises play the Volksplatz stage on August 5th (9:00pm) and 6th (6:30pm) which is, of course, the first weekend in August. Musikfest is open 5pm-11pm August 4th and noon-11pm August 5th-13th. Alcohol vendors serve until 10:30pm each night (be sure to get your beer before the beer tent closes!), food and beverage ticket booths are open until 10:45pm and all other food and merchandise vendors are open until 11pm.
If you’ve never been to Musikfest and you live in Pennsylvania or any of the bordering states and have the time and means to get there, I strongly encourage you to go. You’ll have a great time – how could you go wrong with a free music festival and Red Elvises too? If you look at the Musikfest website you can find more information, directions and the answer to the question on whether or not you can bring your dog (you can’t, sorry...unless it’s a seeing eye dog, not even if it’s really really cute. But you can certainly bring your kids!). The actual street address, if you need to Mapquest it, is 25 W. Third St., Bethlehem, PA 18015.
So if you can, make the trek to Musikfest and be sure to stop by the merchandise table by the Volksplatz stage and stock up on Red Elvises t-shirts, work shirts and CDs during their shows. I’ll be there, because even though I don’t live in New York any more, I am currently based on the East Coast and will drive up there every year that I’m here (not so sure if I can make it once I eventually move back to California but we'll see!) that Red Elvises play Musikfest. And check here next month to read my story of my trip and the shows, and see pictures too. Hope to see you there, it's a blast!
Many thanks to Musikfest's Myspace page and website, where I stole most of the above information and the poster image. Hey, I have to keep Red Elvises fans informed, right?