Musikfest 2011!

The arts & crafts vendors

It's Musikfest time again! Every year, around the first/second week of August, people come to Bethlehem to indulge in free music, yummy food, beer you can carry around town all day, and arts and crafts to buy. It starts around noon, some vendors open around 11 am, and goes on until 10 pm. 


This year, they opened up the festival to the South Side, as well, utilizing the area at the Steel Stacks; it used to be the old steel mills when steel was THE industry in Bethlehem.


In fact, we saw the Steve Miller Band play at Steel Stacks on Monday night... it was a great show! The view was good, it wasn't brutally hot, although it was humid and everyone was still sweating... you could get relief when a breeze passed over you, though. 

Steve Miller Band

It was a beautiful evening for the show, really. No rain, and the occasional breeze were key. Steve Miller was in top form, and played lots of their classic tunes, as well as some newer, blues numbers that were really good! He got people up and dancing towards the end... it was just so hot, ha ha! Earlier in the week, Maroon 5 had a show, but we hadn't gotten tickets to see them. We heard that it rained both times they played a song that had lyrics in them about rain! Pretty strange!

Facing the food vendors

There's always a lot of goodies to eat when you're at Musikfest. My favorites are the gyros, the funnel cakes, and the twisty soft-serve ice cream! I can only have so many gyros, though, so last night I got fish-n-chips from a vendor, and it was actually really good.

This is one of the biggest music festivals that happen in this neck of the woods. People come in from other states, stay in hotels and B and B's, and just hang for a week. Traffic and parking become an issue, and roving groups of teens are easily seen in the neighborhood, but all in all, it's a really cool thing! The coolest vendors there were Sassy Sisters Jewelry, who also has a shop on Etsy, and the tent where you can make your own patterned scarf, using the marbling technique. This was really fun to watch! 

My purchase from Sassy Sisters Jewelry

One of the cooler vendors there... Sassy Sisters Jewelry!

Marbling to make your own scarf

I know it must give a lot of stores a slight boost in their books to have such an influx of new people shopping downtown. When I was walking around yesterday afternoon, I saw a lot of tourists out and about, going into shops, and eating at cafes. It's probably even, though, when I think about it, since most locals probably avoid downtown during Musikfest, unless they're there to party!

Flavored olive oils & balsamic vinegars

We also watched one of my glass blowing teaching assistants, Lindsey, do a demonstration at the ArtsQuest tent. She made a blown glass vase with handles, all in front of an audience. It was amazing to see her do something so complex, when the things we made in class were so simple.

Lindsey with the "gather" before she has shaped it.

Lindsey putting on the second handle... tough work!

If you're on the east coast next year, you should try to come out to next year's Musikfest. It's a lot of fun, and if you let me know early, I'd be happy to meet up with you there! It goes on for a full week... by the end of it, I'm pretty well saturated with fair food, crowds and beer.  So catch me early!! :-)


xox