Published May 26. 2026 03:20PM<\/p>\n
The \u201cSuper Readers\u201d parade kicked off the 18th annual Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids Celebration of Reading . . . and the Arts and Sciences April 25. Student representatives from the 16 Bethlehem Area School District elementary schools were invited. Accompanying the hundreds of children who participated in the parade in their colorful Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids T-shirts were the City of Bethlehem Mounted Police Unit, the Broughal MS Marching Band, the Liberty HS First Company, and Moravian University\u2019s Gamma Sigma Sigma Service Sorority members.<\/p>\n
More than 1,000 lucky attendees were treated to lunch provided by Wegmans of Bethlehem and a variety of Smoothies provided by the \u201cDream Team\u201d from Sodexo Northampton Community College and the City of Bethlehem Health Bureau.<\/p>\n
Although Mother Nature cooperated for the opening parade, the rain started falling soon afterward. That did not, however, dampen the spirit of the organizations that provided activities for the attending children and their families – nor did it impact the level of enthusiasm exhibited by the children who got to enjoy a day of performances by the Liberty and Broughal bands, the Nitschmann MS Dramatics (Disney\u2019s Frozen Jr.), the Donegan ES Chorus (Disney\u2019s Dare to Dream Jr.), the Northeast MS Theatre (Disney\u2019s High School Musical 2 Jr.), the Northeast World Percussion Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble, the Lehigh Valley Academy Chorus, and the Parker School of Irish Dance dancers. In addition to the performances, there was a Science Venue at which children were introduced to St. Luke\u2019s New Training in Motion \u201cTIM\u201d Simulation and Anatomage Technology vehicle. This exciting and innovative adventure was followed by interactive activities provided by volunteers from DeSales University\u2019s Physician Assistants Program, the Liberty STEM Club, the Moravian University \u201cAmazing Brain\u201d Club, and the Northampton Community College Respiratory Therapy Care Program. There was also a Lego station for children to demonstrate their creative talents.<\/p>\n
Attending children also were tempted by a variety of creative activities provided by volunteers from Becahi Peer Listeners, the Bethlehem Parking Authority, DeSales University Education Department, Liberty High School Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids Club and National Honor Society, Moravian University\u2019s Gamma Sigma Sigma Service Sorority, Northampton Community College\u2019s Horizons for Youth Program and Hospitality Management Club,<\/p>\n
and River Crossing YMCA.<\/p>\n
The City of Bethlehem Police and Fire Departments and Health Bureau interacted with the young people throughout the event at the \u201cSafety Venue\u201d \u2013and the City\u2019s Mounted Police were, as usual, a big hit.<\/p>\n
The theme for this year\u2019s extravaganza was \u201cLET\u2019S ALL GO ON A READING ADVENTURE\u201d \u2013 and, of course, there were free books for everyone at the Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids Book Distribution Venue, along with a free gift provided by Joyful Giving. After selecting their free book, children were encouraged to go on a musical adventure with Ben & Sharla of SOUNDLABZ Academy \u2013 and what an exciting adventure that proved to be.<\/p>\n
With a mission of \u201cconnecting kids and community through literacy,\u201d Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids hopes to make a difference in the lives of our community\u2019s children with every book it distributes and with every interaction<\/p>\n
our community\u2019s children have with caring individuals. In spite of the rain, volunteers of all ages from our thoughtful community came together to give the hundreds of children who attended this annual event a day to remember \u2013 and all free! How fortunate we are to be in such a generous, positive, and nurturing community.<\/p>\n
Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids is an award-winning initiative that pairs area youth with new and gently used books generated through book drives and donations from local businesses, schools, individuals, and organizations throughout the community who have responded overwhelmingly to the program\u2019s mission of \u201cconnecting kids and community through literacy.\u201d This remarkable literacy initiative has distributed more than 1.25 million free books thus far, and an army of volunteers of all ages and from all segments of our community partner with Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids each year to make this Celebration a reality. Their mission: to come together for the good of our community\u2019s children. In just one April afternoon for each of the previous 17 years, the Celebration has showcased the spirit that defines Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids throughout the year.<\/p>\n
How exciting it is when we get together to celebrate who we are as a community \u2013 and to make a difference in the lives of our community\u2019s children!<\/p>\n
Contributed<\/p>\n
by Beverly Bradley<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTOS COURTESY COPS\u2019N KIDSCity of Bethlehem Police and Firefighters were on hand to help with craft projects and to distribute free gifts to attendees.<\/p>\n
Liberty HS Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids and National Honor Society volunteers had face-painting stations throughout the venue.<\/p>\n
NCC\u2019s Zime \u201cDream Team\u201d partnered with the City of Bethlehem Health Bureau to make \u201csmoothies\u201d for more than 1,400 attendees.<\/p>\n
-Wegmans volunteers were on hand to offer lunch to the more than 1,000 event attendees.<\/p>\n
Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids volunteers sporting their Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids shirts and aprons in the event Book Distribution Venue. There were 4,000 books available from which children could select a book to keep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published May 26. 2026 03:20PM The \u201cSuper Readers\u201d parade kicked off the 18th annual Cops \u2018n\u2019 Kids Celebration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-202782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202782","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=202782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}