Arts & Culture

The Allentown Film Festival is now in its second year and will feature short films and Q&A sessions with filmmakers.

The event's theme this year is "All Jazzed Up," and students shared what they're excited — or jazzed up — about in their own lives.

Actor/comedian Patrick Roach, who plays the character Randy on “Trailer Park Boys,” will bring Randy's Cheeseburger Picnic to Maingate Nightclub on Saturday, June 1.

Violinist Diane Monroe and New Jersey-based dance group Nimbus are among the scheduled performers set for April at Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University.

Megan Campbell and her son Finley have just released their first storybook, "Home is Where the Heart is," which features some of the young man's favorite spots in Easton.

Blues Traveler, which also in the 1990s had five gold and platinum albums and whose 1990 hit "Run-Around" spent 49 weeks on the Top 100, will perform Aug. 24. Also on the show will be Big Head Todd and The Monsters, who had the Top 15 hits “Bittersweet,” “Broken Hearted Savior” and “Resignation Superman.”

A $900,000 grant to ArtsQuest and the City of Bethlehem will improve pedestrian infrastructure around the nonprofit's Banana Factory complex on Third Street.

A new event, Steel City Smokeout, will be held Saturday, July 20, on PNC Plaza on the SteelStacks campus in conjunction with Bethlehem restaurant Nick’s BBQ.

Moravian University students wrote and directed the productions as part of their Master of Fine Arts thesis projects. Their performances at Touchstone Theatre — spread out through April and starting this week — will explore disability, self-worth and creativity.

Heavyweight developer City Center plans to open its new music venue, The Archer, in the 900 block of Hamilton Street in Allentown later this fall. Construction is underway.

Local nonprofit Lehigh Valley Girls Rock's adult camp is set to return this year, finally returning the full slate of programming since the pandemic began.

Devon Koch, a 2022 Liberty High School graduate, is a sophomore at Kutztown University and helped student broadcasters win gold for an on-air pledge drive.

The event, which will feature at least 17 local, national and international distillers and distributors, will be 1-4 p.m. (11 a.m. for premium access) June 9 in Musikfest Café at the ArtsQuest Center.

An art show centered around mental health and disabilities is opening in an unlikely place. Midnight Gallery is in the showroom of Vollux Autowerks, a car repair and diagnostics shop in Lehigh County.

Iron Menace made its first successful test run on Wednesday at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, making a slow ascent before the ride plummeted 95-degrees from 160 feet.

The three-hour festival highlights 12 short films by students from the university's film and television department.

More than a dozen musical acts and food and craft vendors will be spread across the SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem for the festival featuring Jamaican vibes. It's set for Saturday, July 6.

Fraleigh will discuss her latest exhibition, "Threaded with moonlight," on Saturday, March 23.

The Lehigh Valley Book Festival's 5th iteration will take place over five days, starting Wednesday March 20.

Lehigh Valley native Daniel Roebuck has a part in the ABC show "9-1-1," whose new season began last week and continues Thursday.

More than 2,000 marchers joined Allentown's St. Patrick's Day parade Sunday, an annual tradition celebrating the region's Irish culture. “It’s a great way to bring the community together,” said one of the parade-goers.

Muses at the Ice House will be from 4-9 p.m. April 6 at Charles A. Brown Ice House, 56 River St., Bethlehem.