Arts & Culture

1970s and 1980s hitmakers Heart and Cheap Trick will headline Allentown Fair grandstand this summer.

ArtsQuest Communications Director Jennifer LoConte confirmed in an email that the festival will be two days — a Friday/Saturday lineup — free to the public and presented outdoors at SteelStacks.

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

As the North American Music Merchant's yearly show kicks off in California, music lovers in Nazareth can check out C.F. Martin's newest lineup at their local headquarters.

Jeff Dunham will headline the Allentown Fair's grandstand stage at 7 p.m. Sept. 1. The comic ventriloquist has sold more tickets at the fair than any other comedy artist.

Pentatonix, the five-member group whose self-titled album in 2015 and the follow up “A Pentatonix Christmas” in 2016 both hit No. 1, will perform at 7 p.m. Aug. 31.

An Arab-American comedy exploring the breakdown of a marriage and the its ripple effect on a family will play at the Zoellner Arts Center.

Brad Paisley will headline Allentown Fair for the third time. He performed there in 2009, and in 2007 had Taylor Swift as his opening act.

.38 Special, best known for the 1981 hit “Hold on Loosely” and 1982’s “Caught Up in You,” will perform Aug. 16 as part of the series at Univest Performance Center.

The Black Crowes, best known for its No. 1 hits "Hard to Handle" and "She Talks to Angels" will perform at 8 p.m. on May 3 at Wind Creek.

The youth group's spring production of "Mary Poppins" begins on Friday, May 9, at the Charles A. Brown Ice House in Bethlehem.

Another Day Dawns, the only Lehigh Valley act in 55 years to hit any Billboard chart, will be direct support for Scranton metalcore group Motionless in White's two shows next week. The shows will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 9, and Saturday, May 10.

John Lodge, who was bassist for The Moody Blues for most of the band's 54 years, will perform at 8 p.m. July 24. And Staind, which sold 10 million copies of its first five albums, three of which hit No. 1, will perform at 8 p.m. Sept. 11.

Students from the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts will have their creations showcased at a new "Industrial Chic" exhibition at the school's Corpora Gallery. There will be a free reception Friday evening on May 2.

Willson's studio is at 1321 N. 15th St. The final open house will occur Friday, May 2, through Sunday, May 3.

Augustana, best known for its Top 10 hit "Boston" in 2006 and Top 5 hit "Sweet and Low" in 2008, will play a free show at 7 p.m. Aug. 9 at the downtown and South Side Bethlehem music festival. The group is among a list of 323 musical acts Musikfest announced Wednesday will perform more than 500 concerts on its 15 free stages during the July 31-Aug. 10 festival.

Black Violin, Dark Star Orchestra, Sam Bush all set shows for Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center art SteelStacks.

An underutilized roller hockey rink at Jordan Meadows Park has been transformed into the Queen City’s first Mini-Pitch modular sports system focused on soccer.

Jamey Johnson, whose song "In Color" won Song of the Year from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association in 2008, will perform at 6 p.m. Aug. 8 as part of the venue's Sounds of Summer concert series.

Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks announced a 2025 season of 48 concerts (two more than last year) in the venue's 15th year at a season reveal event at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.

Citizen Soldier, whose songs "Heavy" and "Burden" made the charts last year, will perform on Aug. 16. Opening the show will be 10 Years and Adelitas Way.

Maren Morris, whose debut single "My Church" sold double platinum and hit Top 5 on the Country chart, then had a six-times platinum pop hit with "The Middle," and four-times-platinum "The Bones," and will play Wind Creek Event Center at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16.