BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The final weekend of Musikfest is upon us, and while the festival is perhaps its best-know attractions, its "spectacles" — as Musikfest calls them — and street performers have become important to the environment of the ‘Fest.
- Musikfest street performers make a day rate supplemented by busking for tips
- They range from circus performers to comedians to musicians
- In interviews with LehighValleyNews.com, the performers outline what is special about Musikfest
There are fire twirlers, such as Easton native Sarah “ChiliDog” DeRemer, whose show is called Whirled Dreams.
She is not to be outdone by fire-jugglers and fire-eaters, such as Jon “The Flaming Ginger” Norton and Tony Steinbach, both of whom perform all over the country.
There’s lots of fire, in general. Sam Malcolm describes his show as “a stand-up comedy show disguised as a juggling show.” (He does also work with fire.)
And then there’s the music.
"Bethlehem is just one of my favorite places to be.”Cast in Bronze performer Frank DellaPenna
Cast in Bronze features Frank DellaPenna, who came out of retirement for Musikfest, performing on a carillon — a several-ton bell instrument.
Big Easton Easy Brass leads second-line parades through North Bethlehem. Orbital Drum Line jams to classics and current hits while encouraging little kids to play along.
Every act interviewed said they love the energy of the audience.
'Fun way of engaging with people'
Street performers are recruited from both local and far-flung applicant pools.
ArtsQuest’s Programming Manager Shayna Super said each group or performer is booked at a flat day rate, which is supplemented by busking, or collecting tips during and after the shows.
Accommodations generally are provided, as well as meal cards worth $30 a day.
“Buskers have a very fun way of engaging with people,” Super said, “engaging with young kids and kind of giving them that memorable experience from Musikfest…You get this kind of bonus memory for kids and families.”
Super said Musikfest's lineup is ever-changing, as the festival looks for the next big thing.
"So yeah, I understand. That's just the nature of the business. Sometimes you just have to bring in new talent.”Cast in Bronze performer Frank DellaPenna
DellaPenna, for example, had performed at Musikfest for many years but in 2015 was not invited back. At the time, he accused the festival of age discrimination.
But recently, he said of the incident, “They just didn't invite me back. And it's, it's what they do, because it's how I got started. They have to give new artists an opportunity to come in. And that's how I got started here.
"So yeah, I understand. That's just the nature of the business. Sometimes you just have to bring in new talent.”
That said, he said he was thrilled to be back and repeatedly encouraged the audiences at his shows to express to festival management how excited they were to keep him there.
“I love this festival," DellaPenna said. "I've always loved this festival…It's like a fairy tale, what they did here, and they saved this town with music, and to be part of that for like all those years that I felt like I helped, you know.
"Bethlehem is just one of my favorite places to be.”
'People here are just generous and nice'
He isn’t the only one who expressed a love of the festival.
Norton, also known as “The Flaming Ginger,” said, “The people here are just amazing."
"Being honest, out of every festival, every event I've ever worked, this is the most I'm making tips out of any," he said. "The people here are just generous and nice.”
Norton also spoke of the community he’s built with other performers, such as Steinbach and Malcolm, who all travel the country going to different shows and festivals year-round.
“What a blessing this is to have such a huge festival like right here at home in our town."Performer Sarah "ChiliDog" DeRemer, an Easton native
Malcolm said the tight-knit nature of the community and said he and Norton had helped workshop each other’s early shows.
Steinbach said that he and Norton crossed each other on the road. Norton drove back to Virginia Beach on Wednesday for a contract after performing at Musikfest last week, and Steinbach came to Musikfest this week from a contract, also at Virginia Beach.
DeRemer, a local act who said she avoids traveling too far for shows, also spoke of the community of fire performers, saying they work together to keep each other safe.
She said her day job is painting houses with her husband, as well as doing shows on the weekends and teaching others to twirl and eat fire.
DeRemer said she got the gig through “hounding” Musikfest officials to include more local acts.
“What a blessing this is to have such a huge festival like right here at home in our town," she said. Having a local fire performer "just meant a lot to me as a small point of pride.”
'Super awesome to see'
Jeremy Joseph, the organizer of Big Easton Easy Brass, or BEEB, said his local group was inspired by the parades of New Orleans.
"I saw the Rebirth Brass Band on YouTube do a second-line parade where the horns are really the center of the music," he said.
"The way I saw that community come together in the videos and hundreds of people walking with that brass band, and it really hit me that that can be brought to Easton.”Jeremy Joseph, organizer of Big Easy Easton Brass
"And the way I saw that community come together in the videos and hundreds of people walking with that brass band, and it really hit me that that can be brought to Easton.”
Orbital Drum Line was started some years ago by a group of students from Liberty High School in Bethlehem who kept recruiting drum line captains as they graduated. Members now range from ages 18-24.
Jack Weikert, the leader of the group and one of the original members, said members do it as a part-time gig between either working full-time or going to school.
Camryn Cobos, another founding member and the only girl in the group, goes out of her way to encourage young girls to drum through the show.
“It's definitely really important to me to like, you know, try and get little girls involved,” Cobos said. “And, you know, just get women involved in general.
"And, you know, kind of saturate that field, because there's so many people who do it, and have like, real talent kind of get pushed out of it, because they're scared to do it.
"I know, I was scared to do it. And I didn't want to do it at first, but then my parents made me because they knew that I loved it. So yeah, super awesome to see.”
