August 8, 2009. On the way home from another function in Pennsylvania, Paddy and I stopped by our favorite Musikfest. The first thing that caught our eye was this cute body painting. This lad enjoyed it and may not wash it off for a while.
Street musicians and jugglers were everywhere.
This year there were two cigar makers and both were doing a good busines.
Beside the great music venues, there was a large area for arts and crafts and a larger area for fast food, including goodies for pets.
This was the first time we caught a major media outlet that was not full of hot air.
In the early days of Musikfest, only beer could be found, but recently the crowd was becoming a little upscale so they added other beverages.
How lucky could we get finding the Jimmy Sturr Orchestra under the big tent. Naturally Paddy and I danced the Polka.
We saw the Jimmy Sturr Orchestra and Boots Randolph at the Count Basic Theater in Red Bank, NJ. When Boots passed away his musical charts went to Jimmy Sturr. We were fortunate enough to hear Johnny Karas play the "Shadow Of Your Smile" on his tenor sax. It was so sweet and so well done that he stopped the show. It was a wonderful solo.
Jimmy introduced the owner of Service Electric, the local cable TV channel, and the famous Walt Groller, polka king in the Lehigh Valley. Then Walt and Jimmy's orchestra performed together.
After dancing and walking around the festival, hunger took over and we opted for dinner at the Hotel Bethlehem rather than a cheese steak on the street. As we sat down a couple of jazz musicians were performing. They were excellent.
Around dessert time another group took over and they were very entertaining.
The Hotel men's room had some interesting photos hanging on the wall.
As we got within a half block of our car to return to NJ, we came upon this enterprising young man who would take you anywhere at Musikfest for a small fee.
Click HERE to view our combined 2005-2008 visits to MUSIKFEST