Bethlehem is preparing to unveil its newest landmark with a celebration that coincides with the city\u2019s transformation into the Christmas City. <\/p>\n
Walnut Week, running Nov. 17-21, marks the grand opening of the Walnut Street Garage<\/a> with five days of community events.<\/p>\n The Bethlehem Parking Authority, City of Bethlehem, and the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce<\/a> are jointly hosting the week-long celebration centered around the new garage, which officials describe as \u201ca project years in the making that enhances accessibility, walkability, and connection throughout our business districts.\u201d<\/p>\n The festivities begin Monday, Nov. 17, with a 3:30 p.m. kickoff press conference at the garage. City and parking officials will unveil new holiday initiatives and showcase lighting projects illuminating downtown this season.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s event features the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation (CAT) distributing 100 refurbished bikes to local families from 4-7 p.m. on the sidewalk outside the garage.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the garage\u2019s rooftop transforms into a wellness space from noon to 1:30 p.m. for the Oasis Preview Event, featuring a yoga and strength fusion class, pop-up tea bar, chair massages, and giveaways. Local partners include The Yoga Loft, BoomFit Strength Club, SimpliciTea & Co., and Sightless Therapeutic Massage.<\/p>\n The official ribbon cutting takes place Thursday at 4 p.m., hosted by the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce alongside the parking authority and city.<\/p>\n Walnut Week concludes Friday with \u201cWalking on Walnut\u201d from 5-7 p.m., celebrating area businesses with food, drinks, and special promotions at participating merchants including Steak & Steel Hibachi, McCarthy\u2019s Red Stag Pub & Whiskey Bar, and The Tavern at the Sun Inn. The event coincides with opening night of the Christmas City Village in the Sun Inn Courtyard.<\/p>\n The celebration comes as Bethlehem prepares for its Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony and other holiday festivities.<\/p>\n Bethlehem City Council adopted the Bethlehem Historical and Architectural Review Board\u2019s recommendation<\/a> to demolish the 1976 parking garage structure on the site in 2023.<\/p>\n Construction of the new garage started in September 2024.<\/p>\n Generative AI was used to organize information for this story, based on data provided by the City of Bethlehem. It was reviewed and edited by lehighvalleylive.com staff. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bethlehem is preparing to unveil its newest landmark with a celebration that coincides with the city\u2019s transformation into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":{"0":"post-19786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}