Bethlehem residents and visitors can celebrate the new Walnut Street parking garage with free parking, specials and giveaways this week.
The Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce’s Walnut Week celebration will center around the grand opening and ribbon cutting for the garage at 4 p.m. Thursday. It will then be open 24/7, according to Tammy Wendling, senior vice president of Bethlehem initiatives for the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.
During a Monday news conference, Bethlehem Parking Authority Executive Director Steve Fernstrom said the garage will offer free parking for people’s first four hours Thursday through Saturday.
“More people want to come here, and that growing demand is exactly why these investments matter,” he said. “Our parking dollars don’t just support parking. They support infrastructure, programs, help build and maintain the public parks, the holiday decor, and they bring people together. They also support the salaries of great people who make this downtown so vibrant and wonderful.”
From a view inside Donegal Square, Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds speaks Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, during a news conference at Walnut and Main streets in Bethlehem. City officials unveiled new holiday initiatives and downtown lighting projects, and kicked off “Walnut Week” to mark the garage’s opening. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
A new street lamp is lit Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, during a news conference at Walnut and Main streets in Bethlehem. City officials unveiled new holiday initiatives and downtown lighting projects, and kicked off “Walnut Week” to mark the garage’s opening. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds speaks Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, during a news conference at Walnut and Main streets in Bethlehem. City officials unveiled new holiday initiatives and downtown lighting projects, and kicked off “Walnut Week” to mark the garage’s opening. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Tammy Wendling, senior vice president, Bethlehem Chamber speaks Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, during a news conference at Walnut and Main streets in Bethlehem. City officials unveiled new holiday initiatives and downtown lighting projects, and kicked off “Walnut Week” to mark the garage’s opening. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Neville Gardner, owner of Donegal Square and McCarthy’s Red Stag Pub and Whiskey Bar speaks Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, during a news conference at Walnut and Main streets in Bethlehem. City officials unveiled new holiday initiatives and downtown lighting projects, and kicked off “Walnut Week” to mark the garage’s opening. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Steven Fernstrom, Executive Director at Bethlehem Parking Authority speaks Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, during a news conference at Walnut and Main streets in Bethlehem. City officials unveiled new holiday initiatives and downtown lighting projects, and kicked off “Walnut Week” to mark the garage’s opening. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
A new street lamp is lit Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, during a news conference at Walnut and Main streets in Bethlehem. City officials unveiled new holiday initiatives and downtown lighting projects, and kicked off “Walnut Week” to mark the garage’s opening. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
A new street lamp is lit Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, during a news conference at Walnut and Main streets in Bethlehem. City officials unveiled new holiday initiatives and downtown lighting projects, and kicked off “Walnut Week” to mark the garage’s opening. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
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From a view inside Donegal Square, Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds speaks Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, during a news conference at Walnut and Main streets in Bethlehem. City officials unveiled new holiday initiatives and downtown lighting projects, and kicked off “Walnut Week” to mark the garage’s opening. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
The garage will host more than 500 spaces, and eventually the nonprofit Coalition for Appropriate Transportation and the yoga and fitness studio Oasis, which will also participate in Walnut Week.
CAT will give out 100 refurbished bicycles to local families 4-7 p.m. Tuesday on the sidewalk outside the garage. On the garage’s roof, a free preview for Oasis will offer a 45-minute yoga and strength fusion class, a pop-up tea bar, chair massages and giveaways noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Finally, McCarthy’s Red Stag Pub and Whiskey Bar and Steak and Steel Hibachi will host happy hours 5-7 p.m. Friday.
“Two years has been a long time, but, you know, we can’t make a cake without breaking eggs, right?” McCarthy’s owner Neville Gardner — whose restaurant is just down the street from the garage — said at the conference.
“When we came up with the idea of Walnut Week … obviously we’ve been building this parking garage over the past 20 months, but we also thought that there was a good synergy there as far as launching [during] what is really the best time of the year for the city,” Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds said. “It’s the best time for our downtown businesses, but it’s also the best time where we are reminded about what makes Bethlehem so unique. And that’s that we’re stronger together, and we all bring something to the table.”
Wendling said people in Bethlehem can also look forward to decorated lampposts with new poles along Main and Walnut streets, including with the star of Bethlehem. The poles previously weren’t sturdy enough against the wind, and both Wendling and Reynolds credited the city’s electricians for replacing them.
“Throughout our planning, the business community would come together and plan on holiday decor and what we could and couldn’t do, and we always came up against a wall,” she said. “We couldn’t hang anything off of these poles, and it was a burden on us, and it was one of the items on our wish list. And we really wanted to make an impact and take Bethlehem to the next level. People ask all the time about the lights … ‘Can we do more?’ Yes we can, but we need a little bit of help. So this was a great undertaking. Our downtown beautification committee also works incredibly hard with beautification efforts, and they are equally as excited to check this off that wish list that the merchants have.”