Arts & Culture

Sophie Vandecasteele is hoping to open Sophistiqué before Thanksgiving, with a soft opening set for Friday, Nov. 22, at 924 Walnut St.

"Saint Nick of Bethlehem" is screening at the Frank Banko Alehouse Theatre and Shankweiler's Drive-In. Actor Danny Roebuck will also appear at ArtsQuest as Santa Claus on Sunday, Dec. 1.

The owner of Board to Death Games at 338 Main St., just off the Emmaus Triangle, said he wants to be a space for both classic board games and more hardcore hobbyist games. Just down the road, on the same side of the Triangle, Let's Go Coffee Co. is set to open at 358 Main St.

The warm weather, albeit part of a drought, gave more visitors more time to visit Lehigh Valley Zoo and learn about its purpose in 2024. Nearly 185,000 guests visited. The 11th annual Winter Light Spectacular opened this weekend.

"New Conversations: Renaissance and Baroque Art" opens on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the museum located at 31 N. Fifth Street.

The German-inspired holiday market opened on Friday, Nov. 16 at ArtsQuest's SteelStacks campus.

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs flipped the switch on Illumination during a preview event Thursday. Getting to Opening Day involved significant staff efforts, with 12-15 part-time staff and 30-40 people on peak days over a four-week period.

The announcements continue a trend at Musikfest Cafe to book tribute acts and cover bands. In June, ArtsQuest announced more than a dozen shows for the venue's lineup.

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs will host the Tri-City Chili Peppers, a college summer team from Colonial Heights, Virginia, that plays in the Coastal Plain League, on May 17 at Coca-Cola Park.

Aaron Lewis, who with Staind sold 10 million copies of the group's first five albums, three of which hit No. 1, will perform with his solo band The Stateliners, at 8 p.m. April 10.

Saturday's festival will feature cooking and beauty demos, live music and guest lectures by authors.

The eighth Martin's Guitar Wood Summit was held Thursday at Martin & Co. in Nazareth. The main topic centered on sustainability of forests that provide wood used for guitar construction.

A stage play based on music from the Saturday morning “Schoolhouse Rock” animated series – much of it written by late Lehigh Valley-area resident Bob Dorough – is set to open Friday.

Sample hundreds of new creations from sixty breweries at the buzzworthy block party happening Saturday, Sept. 9.

The Bethlehem Running Festival has added a half-marathon relay to its inaugural event on Oct. 21-22.

Allentown's 19th Street Theatre has been nominated to be on the National Register of Historic Places.

Workers battled oppressive heat while breaking down venues at the recently concluded 171st Allentown Fair on Tuesday, Final attendance figure for the six-day festival is expected to be released by next week.

Total attendance figures won't be released until later in the week, but they likely were helped by a week of splendid weather. The six-day fair started last Wednesday and wrapped up, as usual, with the demolition derby at the grandstand on Labor Day.

Keith Urban at the Allentown Fair grandstand played an astounding 13 gold or platinum hits — or was it 16? — on a night that cooled off a "Long Hot Summer" day.

The Great Allentown Fair's final day is Monday. Sunday hosted the Barnyard Olympics, a homemade chocolate cake competition and a Keith Urban concert.

The team from LehighValleyNews.com lost — just barely — to a trash-talking team of 'movers and shakers' that included Mayor Matt Tuerk and County Executive Phillips J. Armstrong.

The rapper and social media sensation performed his hits "Mr. Clean" and "Betty (Get Money)" on Saturday night at the Allentown Fair grandstand.