{"id":256981,"date":"2026-08-01T06:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T06:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/256981\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T06:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T06:04:12","slug":"opening-day-of-2026-musikfest-draws-crowds-for-music-food-and-hometown-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/256981\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening day of 2026 Musikfest draws crowds for music, food and hometown talent"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (WPVI) — Thousands of music fans turned out Friday as Musikfest <\/a>kicked off its 43rd year in Bethlehem, launching a 10-day celebration featuring more than 500 performances by 450 artists.<\/p>\n

Festivalgoers began arriving as soon as gates opened.<\/p>\n

“We might’ve been the first two people here,” said Tracy Deraffele of West Milford, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Crowds quickly filled the festival grounds on opening day, with Friday night’s lineup headlined by country-pop singer Russell Dickerson at the Wind Creek Steel Stage.<\/p>\n

\"Musicians<\/p>\n

Musicians and music fans are getting ready to rock out for ten days of fun in the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n

Alongside nationally known acts, Musikfest also provided a platform for emerging performers, including Bethlehem native Lily Moss, who described the experience as a career milestone.<\/p>\n

“This is my hometown. This is the biggest stage I’ve ever played before, so honestly just being here and sharing this moment with everybody I grew up with is so special,” Moss said.<\/p>\n

She also pointed to the festival’s broad appeal beyond the music.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Third Eye Blind announced as headliner for Musikfest 2026 in Bethlehem<\/a><\/p>\n

“You get to see so many different types of genres and not only that but personally, I love the food,” Moss said.<\/p>\n

Food remained a major attraction throughout the opening day festivities. Vendors lined the festival grounds against the backdrop of the historic Bethlehem SteelStacks.<\/p>\n

“I got some corn fritters and Yeungling, of course,” said Craig Evans of Whippany, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Among the approximately 50 food vendors at the 50-acre event was Kou Kitchen of Allentown. Owner Kou Taylor served dishes inspired by her native West Africa.<\/p>\n

“We enjoy watching people enjoy our food, the taste of Africa,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n

For some attendees, Musikfest is an annual tradition. Others are just beginning to make it one.<\/p>\n

“We’re turning it into one as long as they have good headliners,” said Kristy Evans of Whippany, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

In addition to music and food, local artwork is displayed and sold throughout the festival. All but one of the festival’s 17 stages are free to attend.<\/p>\n

Organizers expect more than 1 million visitors during this year’s event.<\/p>\n

“Bethlehem is a very unique and cool town, and I think it gets a lot of people to this area to see how awesome this area is,” said Melissa Gaiser of Emmaus.<\/p>\n

For tickets and more information, visit ArtsQuest.com\/Musikfest.<\/a><\/p>\n

6abc is a proud media sponsor of the Wind Creek Steel Stage.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. (WPVI) — Thousands of music fans turned out Friday as Musikfest kicked off its 43rd year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[109309,153,155,154],"class_list":["post-256981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-109309","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256981","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=256981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}