‘It's just not what it used to be’: Why some Lehigh Valley locals hate Musikfest

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For the first two decades of Musikfest, Marlene Lakey loved it so much she’d take a week off work to attend as much as possible.

• Many Lehigh Valley residents avoid Musikfest
• Complaints include gridlock traffic, lack of parking and expensive food and drinks
• Safety is a major concern for residents

“I would hang out from the minute it opened until the minute it closed every day,” said Lakey, of Bethlehem Township. “I would park on the street and then I would walk into the venue and just have a blast — and it was almost a quaint little fest.

“Sometimes I would go home, take a nap and come back and park almost in the same spot that I had that morning. It was just absolutely lovely.”

But that’s changed, Lakey said.

“Maybe 10 or 15 years ago when I went, it was wall-to-wall people, and I didn't really find any bands or music that I enjoyed listening to,” she said. “And it was so expensive to buy food and drinks and I just did not enjoy it anymore.”

There are plenty of reasons why some of the Lehigh Valley’s residents don’t like — with a contingent even going so far as to actively avoid — Musikfest. The 10-day festival, in its 40th year, last August alone attracted more than 1.2 million visitors according to organizers, swelling the city’s population. Complaints from locals ranged from lack of parking and gridlock traffic to safety concerns, as well as the increased prices for headliner tickets and upticks in costs for food and beverages.

“It's just not what it used to be,” Lakey said.

And she isn’t alone — the “Complainers of Bethlehem, PA” Facebook group, which has almost 8,500 members, has been active with criticisms and grievances against the event for several weeks leading up to its start. One poster even called it “MusikPest.” However, several residents declined to speak on the record to a LehighValleyNews.com reporter due to the fear of being shamed for their opinions.

‘Some idiot struck a Bethlehem police horse’

Safety was one of the chief complaints cited by locals who avoid the fest, and they aren’t unfounded.

“Back in the day, one of the local newspapers published a list of the daily Musikfest arrests, which were mostly drunk and disorderly conducts,” said former Valley resident Tom De Martini. “I remember reading that some idiot struck a Bethlehem police horse.

“I also remember a well-known Service Electric on-air personality punching a drunk who grabbed him during a live TV shot in 2014.”

While both the alleged horse-slapping and drunk-punching occurred almost a decade ago, safety isn’t a former problem for the fest.

Last year, a shooting left one man wounded. And, earlier this week, a 53-year-old city man was arrested after saying he intended to build and detonate an explosive at the event. Police said the man also had a homemade firearm, capable of firing 12-gauge shotgun ammunition.

Gun violence is a major point of concern for many across the U.S., according to a 2022 poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

“About four in 10 Americans believe that it is at least somewhat likely that they will become a victim of gun violence within the next five years, and young adults are most likely to report this concern,” pollsters found.

The fear of being impacted by a mass shooting can keep residents from visiting crowded areas or attending large events. A 2019 survey from the American Psychological Association found many have changed their behaviors because of that very fear.

“Nearly one in three adults (32%) feel they cannot go anywhere without worrying about being a victim of a mass shooting, while just about the same number (33%) say fear prevents them from going to certain places or events,” according to the report. “Nearly one-quarter (24%) of adults report changing how they live their lives because of fear of a mass shooting.”

The threat of a fatal shooting is only one safety concern keeping the Valley’s residents away from crowded outdoor events this summer, especially for vulnerable populations — there’s also COVID-19 and Canadian wildfire smoke.

Years ago, Lakey said she didn’t feel unsafe at Musikfest, but that’s changed.

“It was just a quaint little festival,” she said. “I could go by myself and not feel like I was in danger. Now, in the back of your mind, I'm sure everybody's thinking, ‘Is there anybody here with an [AR]-15 that’s going to blow my head off?”

‘The heat. The crowd. The parking … Everything.’

De Martini only went to Musikfest twice, he said, “kicking and screaming in protest.”

“I absolutely loathed it. Still do. The heat. The crowd. The parking. The cost of food and beverage. The drunks. The music. Everything,” he said. “I would pray for scorching hot and humid weather during the day, followed by Biblical thunderstorms at night. I recall one year that Biblical rains flooded part of the joint out.”

One of the largest free ungated outdoor music festivals in the country, Musikfest is largely dependent on the commonwealth’s variable August weather. This year’s forecast called for an occasional need for an umbrella, but swaths of damaging winds, hail and heavy rain were expected Monday.

For some, bad weather can be a Musikfest deal-breaker. But, when the weather is good, frustration from crowds and lack of parking can turn even the most avid fans away.

That’s what happened to some of Lakey’s friends in 2011. Maroon 5, the second concert ever at the Steel Stage, sold 7,150 tickets.

“They were so excited to see Maroon 5 — that was one of their favorite bands,” she said. “They had a hard time finding parking, and then they got there and it was wall-to-wall people and they just handed their tickets over to strangers, turned around and went home.”

Asked if there was anything fest organizers could do to entice back those locals who avoid Musikfest, Lakey said the event has grown so much that there’s little chance it could be changed back into the festival she once enjoyed.

“I'm just not willing to pay the money that they're asking for and I don't feel like standing in line with other people,” she said. “I don't feel like dealing with the heat and the humidity.”