Arts & Culture

Juneteenth Lehigh Valley will be celebrated with a week of festivities in 2023.

As Lehigh Valley residents treated themselves at the Easton Farmers Market Strawberry Day on Saturday, they also reached into their pockets to help less fortunate neighbors displaced by a Memorial Day row homes fire in Easton.

Take a look at stories throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

Sugaray Rayford, who in 2020 won the Blues Music Awards for B.B King Entertainer of the Year and Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year, will perform at the festival, which will be held noon-10 p.m. June 24 along Hamilton Street.

Over a 19-song, hour-and-40-minute show, Live’s performance in the summer's first paid-ticket show at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks ranged from acceptably perfunctory to positively stunning, but not with the consistency the band had with its former members.

The 21st Century program is to help students with academic support and art and music enrichment.

The Lehigh Valley schools announced the change last week — a switch made to accommodate the bicentennial celebration of Lafayette College in 2025-26.

Easton held its inaugural LGBTQ+ Pride Month flag-raising in Centre Square on Wednesday evening, celebrating the community and advocating for acceptance and love among more than 100 people.

The middle schoolers took the photos at a three-week class at the Easton Area Community Center.

The "You Point, We Pick" program will be back at Burnside Garden, 1461 Schoenersville Road, starting Saturday, June 3.

Ja'Siah Young is the star of 'Raising Dion.' He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Younger Performer in a Preschool, Children's or Young Teen Program. He and the show were nominated for a total of six Emmys.

Do you want to see the National League champs? The upcoming Phillies Winter Caravan in Bethlehem will take place at the ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem on January 19.

A nonprofit community group responsible for the lighted trees in Easton's Centre Square will flip the switch on new lights on South Side this Friday.

Bradbury-Sullivan Center is hosting four free art history classes in December and January.

Lehigh Valley Grand Prix owner Mike McCreary is celebrating 15 years of business in Allentown and expanding in a big way, opening an outdoor entertainment venue complete with a huge ropes course dubbed "HangDog."

Alt-rockers Goo Goo Dolls, which has had more than a dozen songs in the Top 10 of Billboard's adult rock chart over the past 15 years, will headline Bethlehem's Musikfest festival, it was announced Monday.

Actor, musician and children’s author widely known for his portrayal of one of the first regular characters on the children’s show “Sesame Street,” Bob McGrath, has died at the age of 90. McGrath’s passing was confirmed by his family who posted on his Facebook page on Sunday. Sesame Workshop tweeted Sunday evening that it “mourns the passing of Bob McGrath, a beloved member of the Sesame Street family for over 50 years.” McGrath was a founding cast member of “Sesame Street” when the show premiered in 1969. He is survived by his wife, Ann Logan Sperry, and their five children.

Lehigh Valley Music Awards, once popular but on hiatus for three years, said it's looking to return, perhaps under ArtsQuest. But as it does, the upstart ABE Music Awards wants to take its place.

Lehigh Valley SoccerFest continues at the SteelStacks campus, while the City of Allentown partners with St. Luke's University Health Network to host World Cup watch parties.

Maltas Con Leche, an Allentown-based art collective, designed the Musikfest 2023 poster as a family unit. I will be unveiled at the Banana Factory’s First Friday event on Dec. 2.

Country music superstar Keith Urban has played The Great Allentown Fair twice in his storied career. He'll return next September and is the first headliner announced.

The Grinch will be signing autographs and taking photos with shoppers amidst live music, games, gift wrapping, a photo wall and more.