Musikfest as we know it is canceled for this year, with ArtsQuest planning a virtual festival featuring televised and streamed concerts, officials announced Wednesday.
The 10-day festival is the largest of the Valley’s events to be affected by the pandemic. The status of Musikfest, which draws more than million people to Bethlehem each summer, has been up in the air since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Pennsylvania, starting in mid-March when the state was placed under a stay-at-home order.
“This is an unprecedented situation,” said Kassie Hilgert, president & CEO of ArtsQuest in a virtual press conference Wednesday. “I don’t think I even had ever thought about this in my tenure at Musikfest.”
Musikfest 2020, which will still run July 31 to Aug. 19, will include 40 exclusive concerts streamed on Musikfest.org as part of Virtual Musikfest and 40 performances by bands airing live from the Service Electric TV studios.
Among the artists confirmed to perform as part of Virtual Musikfest lineup are KT Tunstall, Igor & The Red Elvises, Betcha, The Accidentals, Mike Mains & the Branches, Hollis Brown, Making Movies and Craig Thatcher & Nyke Van Wyk. Additional artists will be announced as they are confirmed in the coming weeks.
All Wind Creek Steel Stage main stage performances, with the exception of The National, have been postponed. The Darius Rucker show has been rescheduled to Aug. 7, 2021, while the Kelsea Ballerini concert will now take place Aug. 12, 2021.
ArtsQuest is working to reschedule the Willie Nelson, Poison, Rob Zombie and Shinedown shows to Musikfest 2021 and asks ticket-holders to hold on to their tickets for those shows until the new dates are confirmed and announced. All tickets will be honored at the new 2021 dates. An email will be sent to all ticket purchasers once a new date has been established. If a new date can’t be established, ArtsQuest will send an email outlining patrons’ options on what they can request for their ticket purchase, including an option for those who want to support Musikfest by donating the cost of their tickets back to the nonprofit ArtsQuest.
The National concert set for this year has been canceled and ArtsQuest will contact all ticket purchasers for this performance via an email outlining ticketholders options.
While much of Musikfest will remain virtual, you will still be able to go to the SteelStacks campus and get food from Musikfest vendors, who will be on hand throughout the 10 days of the festival. About 10 vendors will take part in offering a “taste” of the Musikfest midway with a variety of food and beverage options. Everything offered will follow all state and city health & safety regulations in place at the time of Musikfest. Participating vendors and foods will be announced later this summer.
Also part of the plans for the reimagined Musikfest:
* The return of the Musikfest app, featuring a photo scavenger hunt and more.
* A virtual Musikfest 5K launching in July, with proceeds supporting Musikfest
* The Handwerkplatz presented by Martin Guitar, an online retail shopping portal to support local artisans.
* Musikfest 2020 Public Art Project where the community can download or pick up a postcard at the Banana Factory and create artwork sharing their thoughts and feelings on Musikfest and the community. Details on how to participate in the art project and return the postcards will be announced June 15 at www.musikfest.org.
Musikfest fans and community members who want to help ArtsQuest and Musikfest prepare for when everyone can get back together in person safely can do so by:
- Making donations to support Musikfest at Musikfest.org/together. There are various “Together, We Will Fest Again” options for people to give based on ability, with special ‘Thank Yous’ for donations at different levels including a limited-run, special-edition ‘Virtual Musikfest 2020 collector’s mug.
- Becoming an ArtsQuest Member and enjoy a variety of virtual and in-person benefits, including the ability to purchase tickets at future Musikfests and SteelStacks concerts before the public.
- Entering the Virtual Musikfest 5K starting in July.
- Ordering from the ongoing SteelStacks Curbside Pickup to Go Service, featuring Musikfest food vendor favorites.