Arts & Culture

While headliners make headlines, Musikfest continues to give big opportunities to local musicians from the greater Lehigh Valley, fueling about a third of the festival's performances.

A whole lot of fans of the Nickelodeon show came to see Big Time Rush in its new era as the weather finally broke at Musikfest.

Welcome to LehighValleyNews.com's Fest in Show, a daily offering of some of the can't-miss acts on the free stages of Bethlehem's Musikfest festival.

Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, Jason Benning never thought he'd find himself in the Lehigh Valley, let alone at a "music festival he's never heard of." Yet, it would lead to him meeting the love of his life

The six-time Grammy winners performed a medley of their hits at the main Steel Stage as the rain poured down on Thursday, August 8.

Chicago, which is among the Top 30 bestselling music acts of all time, with more than 120 million copies of its 46 albums sold worldwide, will play at 8 p.m. Oct. 25. And Engelbert Humperdinck, known for his hits "Release Me," "There Goes My Everything" and "A Man Without Love," will perform at 8 p.m. Dec. 7.

Welcome to LehighValleyNews.com's Fest in Show, a daily offering of some of the can't-miss acts on the free stages of Bethlehem's Musikfest festival.

Performances of eVenti Verticali SPHERE will take place at 7, 9 and 11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, and 5, 7 and 9 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 11, on Lehigh Valley Public Media's plaza and ArtsQuest's Town Square.

In an hour-and 22-minute set at Musikfest's main Steel Stage on Wednesday, Lynyrd Skynyrd played 13 songs — all the hits, but also deeper tunes — spanning the band's career.

Bethlehem's Austin Shaffer downed five ears of corn in just over four and half minutes to win the Aw Shucks Corn Eating Contest at Musikfest on Wednesday night.

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.

Davenport's spin on Christmas pudding wowed the judges at the competition, which is part of the fair's farm-to-table series.

Early-aught hip-hop hitmakers Nelly and Chingy performed Friday at third night of the Allentown Fair grandstand.

Yung Gravy on Saturday night brings his maddeningly catchy — but absurdist — raps about wooing your girlfriends ("Oops!") and your moms ("Betty (Get Money)" and "Mr. Clean") to Allentown Fair's grandstand.

Lehigh County 4-H Livestock Club members are the biggest winners at the Great Allentown Fair, which runs through Labor Day on Monday.

The Northampton Area Chamber of Commerce is celebrating the 34th year of the Uptown Northampton Street Fair on Saturday, Sept. 9.