BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The countdown to Musikfest 2026 has begun with the unveiling of next year's festival poster, which ties into America's 250th anniversary and conveys a message of unity.
On Monday, ArtsQuest gathered community members and donors to celebrate the 2026 Musikfest poster — an annual tradition that has become a lasting tribute to Musikfest founder Jeff Parks.
The "Music Unites" poster, by artist Doug Boehm, is now visible in the middle of the Jeff Parks Founders Society installation on the exterior of ArtsQuest Center on the SteelStacks campus.
The Jeff Parks Founders Society launched in 2024 as a way to honor Parks' legacy and donors to the program.
Parks founded Musikfest in 1984 to help bring community pride after the demise of Bethlehem Steel, which provided 20% of the city's tax base.
Musikfest, which will celebrate its 43rd year in 2026, promotes itself as the largest free, ungated music festival in the United States.
'Connect us all'
The 2026 poster carries special meaning — aligning with America’s 250th anniversary.
For the first time in ArtsQuest history, a poster artist has been commissioned a second time. Painter, illustrator and musician Boehm also designed the 2020 Musikfest poster.
Unlike his festival design circa 2020, when people were encouraged to keep six feet apart, he wanted to unify them this time around.
"This year's theme, 'Music Unites,' couldn't be more fitting," he said. "No matter where you're from or what you're into, when the music starts, whether it's rock, jazz, hip hop, folk or anything in between, we come together."
"That's the energy that I tried to convey in my poster — the joy, movement, and the power of music to connect us all."
Launching 'big ideas'
Parks, who was joined by ArtsQuest President Kassie Hilgert on Monday, said part of the vision of Musikfest was to give residents a reason to stay and thrive in their community.
"I was going to call my book 'The Last Exit to New Jersey' because the brain drain here was horrendous in the '80s and '90s," he said.
"All of our colleges were graduating people, but they didn't want to stay in the Lehigh Valley because there was no place to get jobs for college graduates at that time."
“In 1984, nobody came to us from Harrisburg with $10,000 to help start Musikfest. That’s what we’re doing now — giving communities the seed funding to launch big ideas.Jeff Parks, founder of Musikfest
According to Parks, 15 years after the first Musikfest, little development occurred downtown.
Then, by 1998, ArtsQuest’s Banana Factory marked a turning point, proving how culture could spur renewal.
In June, ArtsQuest held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new five-story cultural center on thefactory's former grounds.
Today, Northampton County has the highest percentage of young college graduates of all counties in the state, according to Parks.
Parks joined the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in 2013 and became chairman in 2017.
The council rebranded as the Pennsylvania Creative Industries in March and offers grants to struggling communities seeking revitalization through the arts — taking a cue from Bethlehem.
“In 1984, nobody came to us from Harrisburg with $10,000 to help start Musikfest,” Parks said. “That’s what we’re doing now — giving communities the seed funding to launch big ideas.”
The demand has been immediate: In its first year, 105 communities applied for just four available grants.
'We accept all people'
Parks also touched on the Latino community, the fastest-growing demographic in the region.
He highlighted the role of cultural inclusion, noting how Musikfest’s Plaza Tropical, launched in 2000, and ArtsQuest’s annual Three Kings Day celebration held each January, helped strengthen connections.
"The year we launched Plaza Tropical, some of the old-time staff members will tell you, we were assured we were going to have [problems] because we were going to have Latinos on the South Side, where they lived, and not on the main festival grounds on the north side," he said.
Today it's just a vision of what the Moravian community started — we accept all people for who they are, regardless of how they identify."Jeff Parks, founder of Musikfest
"We didn't, and it turned out that some Latinos enjoyed polka, but mostly people who enjoyed polka found out that they liked salsa.
"Today it's just a vision of what the Moravian community started — we accept all people for who they are, regardless of how they identify."
Parks also paid tribute to a former classmate, Nelson Matos, a Vietnam veteran, who passed away on Sept. 9 at 77.
Matos, who attended Liberty High School alongside Parks, played one of the Three Wise Men for 14 years at ArtsQuest's Los Tres Reyes celebration — a holiday in Central, Latin and South American countries to commemorate the journey of the Three Wise Men, or Los Tres Reyes.
“Nelson, God bless his soul, was one of the three kings since the first year," Parks said. "That’s the kind of thing you were supporting with ArtsQuest.
“What started here showed that, yes, we can do something together as a community. And today, the Lehigh Valley is thriving because of it.”
