Godfrey Daniels celebrates 50 years, launches fundraising campaign

Fifty years ago, a venue opened to create an authentic connection between artist and audience.

The performers, the lighting, the sound equipment and the listening audience all came together to make “magic” and create moments.

“That still happens 50 years later, and both the audience and the performer realize it and cherish those moments,” said Dave Fry, co-founder of Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem.

If that magic is to continue for another 50 years, change needs to come.

The Godfrey Daniels music venue and nonprofit recently launched a capital campaign to buy and renovate its home building at 7 E. Fourth St. in Bethlehem.

Titled “Home Sweet Home: Preserving Bethlehem’s Musical Roots,” the campaign intends to raise $1 million — $250,000 to buy the property and $750,000 to renovate it.

The property would transfer to the Godfrey Daniels nonprofit from Fry and Cindy Dinsmore, who are emeritus board members. They opened the venue in March 1976 in a former doughnut shop. It became a nonprofit organization in 1978.

Fry said before he opened the venue, he was performing next door at the Lehigh Tavern (now the Funhouse).

Chatting with tavern owner Bruce Watson, Fry said he was reflecting on how he didn’t have a “listening atmosphere” as a performer and an audience member. He experienced a true listening room for the first time when he visited Caffe Lena in Saratoga, New York.

“The performer craves that kind of atmosphere where the give-and-take is real, and it boosts the creative spirit inside the performer,” Fry said. “Now as an audience member, you want to see the performer at his or her best, and that’s not possible in a barroom situation.”

As Fry spoke with Watson, the bar owner replied, ” ‘Well, there’s a doughnut shop next door that’s presently empty, maybe we should pursue the landlord and see if we can maybe try something,’ and that was kind of the impetus.”

Fifty years later, the listening, the intimacy, and the give-and-take between artists and audience remain apparent.

A few steps through the entrance and front room, where one can order coffee and snacks, already puts a visitor in the performing room, outfitted with small tables, electric candles and a stage not much bigger than a porch. Above the stage hangs a quilt that Brenda Brown created to honor singer-songwriter Stan Rogers.

The venue seats just 80 people, said managing director Ramona LaBarre, who likened the performance area to a living room.

And it felt like a living room during a recent visit, as an audience of around 15 people listened to musicians Buddy Mondlock, Mike Lindauer and Jack Murray (LaBarre’s husband).

“I really admire what she does here,” said Murray, who has been performing at Godfrey Daniels for 15 years. “Kind of keeps the tradition of, if you can come here on any given night, not know who the act is, it was going to be somebody really good.”

The three men’s performance almost asked the audience to feel familiar, as if they were listening to people they already knew. The audience sang along for one number. Lindauer asked if his bass sounded OK. An audience member complimented his and Mondlock’s harmonies.

For at least a few people that evening, they did more than feel familiar. Bruce Lehman has been coming to Godfrey Daniels since the 1980s, musician Jim Steager since the 1970s, Patty Hartzell since around the early COVID-19 years.

“The good music,” Hartzell said about what kept bringing her back.

Mondlock said it was only his second time performing at the venue after last year with the Guy Clark Collective, but he had heard about it for decades, especially given how it has hosted musicians he admires such as John Gorka.

“I know a lot of my heroes have been standing up there on that stage over the years, and so it’s really kind of an honor to finally get here on my own night,” Mondlock said.

Other artists who have played at Godfrey Daniels over the years include Rogers, Nanci Griffith, Odetta, Townes Van Zandt and Steve Forbert.

Greg Heller-LaBelle, a Godfrey Daniels board member and co-chair for the capital campaign, said he grew up going to shows at the venue.

“My parents moved here when I was in fifth grade in 1993,” he said. “And one of the first times my mom really decided she was OK living in Bethlehem was when we saw Tom Paxton at Godfrey Daniels. And she realized, ‘Hey, there’s a community here. People who can get me.’ “

Musician Buddy Mondlock performs Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, at Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem. The music venue and nonprofit celebrated its 50th anniversary in March. The nonprofit is also raising money through a capital campaign to renovate and purchase its building from Dave Fry and Cindy Dinsmore, the venue’s co-founders. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

An Inside look at Godfrey Daniels on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Bethlehem. The music venue and nonprofit celebrated its 50th anniversary in March. The nonprofit is also raising money through a capital campaign to renovate and purchase its building from Dave Fry and Cindy Dinsmore, the venue’s co-founders. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

Dave Fry sits with a guitar Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, outside of Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem. The music venue and nonprofit celebrated its 50th anniversary in March. The nonprofit is also raising money through a capital campaign to renovate and purchase its building from Fry and Cindy Dinsmore, the venue’s co-founders.
(April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

Managing director Ramona LaBarre welcomes the crowd at Godfrey Daniels on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Bethlehem. The music venue and nonprofit celebrated its 50th anniversary in March. The nonprofit is also raising money through a capital campaign to renovate and purchase its building from Dave Fry and Cindy Dinsmore, the venue’s co-founders. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

Godfrey Daniels co-founders Dave Fry and Cindy Dinsmore, and managing director Ramona LaBarre, sit on one of the benches Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, inside of the music venue and nonprofit in Bethlehem, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in March. The nonprofit is also raising money through a capital campaign to renovate and purchase its building from Fry and Dinsmore. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

Musician Jack Murray performs Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, at Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem. The music venue and nonprofit celebrated its 50th anniversary in March. The nonprofit is also raising money through a capital campaign to renovate and purchase its building from Dave Fry and Cindy Dinsmore, the venue’s co-founders. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

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Dinsmore said she got involved after she met Fry after a concert at Lehigh University. Her father, a Lehigh University professor, introduced her to Fry — he mentioned wanting to open a folk music coffeehouse, and Dinsmore offered to help. It made sense; she grew up with acoustic music in the house, her father was into folk music and they regularly went to meetings and concerts for the Appalachian Fiddle & Bluegrass Association.

While Dinsmore isn’t as involved with the nonprofit anymore, she lived for over 25 years above the venue (Fry lives there today). She would make dinner for the performers coming through, and bake goods to sell during shows. People were always traveling around to play music without making much money back in the day, so they’d sleep upstairs, too.

“It was a tremendous time of creating this wonderful place, but also creating a lot of friendships both in the community and also with all these tremendous artists who came through year after year,” Dinsmore said.

Dinsmore said it feels amazing to think of Godfrey Daniels turning 50 years old, adding that they never expected to reach that milestone. For her and Fry to sell the venue’s property is to plan for the future.

“We’re both older people now,” she said. “The idea of the capital campaign and all those folks that put it together was to ensure that Godfrey’s will continue on, and the best way to do that is for Godfrey’s to own the building and upgrade the building and so on.”

“For the good of the club itself, it should become mature enough to act as a single entity, as an organization,” Fry said.

LaBarre said they hope to buy the building next year and would likely need to close during renovations, which would include making the bathrooms larger and more accessible, adding office and artist space to the second floor, improving the audio and visual systems, and relocating and growing the stage. She added that with rising costs, how much money they need to raise and the scope of the work may change.

“It is a much-desired venue for artists,” LaBarre said. “They want to play there. We have more artists requesting to come and play on our stage than we have dates on our calendar to accommodate everybody. It’s very popular. I like to say that Godfrey’s is a jewel in the crown of the Lehigh Valley arts community.”

The capital campaign has received about $300,000 in donations as of Oct. 9, LaBarre said. Donation and pledge options are available on the Godfrey Daniels website.

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