Arrests more than doubled at this year’s Musikfest compared to 2025.
Bethlehem police arrested 37 people, up from 17 arrested last year, according to statistics released Thursday by the department.
Police responded to 178 calls during Musikfest, which took place between July 31 and Aug. 9 in the city’s North and South sides. Last year police responded to 113 calls during the entirety of the festival.
The days with the most calls occurred during weekends. The first Saturday, Aug. 1, had 28 calls, the most in a single day during this year’s festival.
Most of the calls this year, about 138 of them, were made from the North Side, which is centered along Main Street.
Medical calls accounted for 39 of all calls, while hang-up calls to 911 accounted for 30.
There were 16 calls for public drunkenness, an increase of 10 from the year before, city police said.
Of the 37 people arrested, 31 were from outside Bethlehem, an increase from 16 the year before. Twenty-nine of those arrested were men, and eight were women.
Most arrests were summary arrests; however three people were arrested for felony offenses, according to officials.
“Musikfest continues to be an incredibly safe event, especially considering the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Bethlehem during the festival,” city police Capt. William Audelo said in a news release. “While we did see an increase in arrests compared with recent years, the overwhelming majority involved lower-level offenses, and we experienced no major incidents that threatened the overall safety of the festival,” the police department said.
Last year’s largely rain-free festival was the highest attended festival to date, with 1,449,000 people. Rain fell periodically during this year’s festival, though it only had to shut down once because of a storm.