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Morning Call: Lehigh Valley virtual summer events to enjoy with your family
July 2nd, 2020 | In The News
Written by Debra Schnecker for The Morning Call
Looking for a few suggestions on how to enjoy your time at home this summer disconnected from your favorite entertainment venues? Continue to enjoy fun in the sun or shade — while protecting others.
Here’s a list of the top Lehigh Valley virtual activities for you and your family to enjoy at home:
The Valley Lives, a new musical venture created by local musician Dylan Carter, gives a professional venue to create a semi-normal space for musicians. Upcoming performances include Smooth Retsina Glow, July 3, Psychedelic Revival, July 10, Glenn Miller, July 11 and Ralph Pagano, July 17 and can be viewed at thevalleylives.dylanbcarter.com/
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association offers virtual programs, including Migration and Habitat of Golden Eagles in North America, 4 p.m. July 3; Fistfuls of Frogs, 1 p.m. July 8. https://www.hawkmountain.org/
Studio B Fine Art Gallery announces the opening of a fine art exhibit in all media and book release entitled “Superheroes: What the World Needs Now.” The exhibit will be featured through photographs and a video tour July 3 through Oct. 11.
The photographs and video tour can be found on the studio’s website www.studiobbb.org.
Philadelphia Folk Festival, Aug. 13-16, Digital interactive musical experience, complete with multiple stages/streams of curated music, fully integrated chat features, campfire open mikes, zoom campsites, craft show, food and merchandise tents. https://pfs.org/
Catasauqua Virtual Summer Concert Series presents Esta Coda, 8 p.m. July 3, streaming live from The Gas Dance Hall. Donations accepted to benefit the Catasauqua Food Bank. https://www.facebook.com/cattyparkconcerts/live/
Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks Concert Series presents Levitt in Your Living Room series, featuring a virtual format that includes Thursday night live streams by artists originally scheduled for the Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks stage, web broadcasts of past Levitt Pavilion concerts and live streams presented by the other Levitt Pavilions around the nation.
The “Levitt in Your Living Room” series is scheduled to take place Thursdays-Saturdays. Programming lineup includes: Levitt SteelStacks In Your Living Room live with Drew Angus, 7:30 p.m. July 2; Levitt in Your Living Room with Service Electric: The U.S. Army Field Band, 7:30 p.m. July 3; Levitt in Your Living Room with The Dustbowl Revival at Levitt Pavilion Denver, 7:30 p.m. July 4. Info: www.levittsteelstacks.org/ and the Levitt Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/levittsteelstacks/.
The National Constitution Center launched a free virtual museum inviting viewers to guided tours of four of the National Constitution Center’s exhibits, including Civil War and Reconstruction: The Battle for Freedom and Equality; American Treasures: Documenting the Nation’s Founding; Signers’ Hall; and Hamilton: The Constitutional Clashes that Shaped a Nation. The virtual museum tour allows visitors to experience the exhibits through 360-degree views and rich photography. Viewers can see and learn about hundreds of the center’s artifacts and documents, including rare drafts of the U.S. Constitution and the Reconstruction amendments. The virtual tour also includes an audio component in Signers’ Hall and video components in Civil War and Reconstruction, featuring National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen and Exhibition Developer Elena Popchock, who dive deeper into the exhibit content for virtual visitors. constitutioncenter.org.
Arts Project ONLINE, a web event series featuring visual artists discussing their recent exhibit at Penn State Lehigh Valley, will be held 11 a.m. to noon, July 9 via Zoom. Artist Amy Arbus and Martha Posner exhibited in the Ronald K. De Long Gallery at Penn State Lehigh Valley Oct.-Dec. 2019. Panelist are Amy Arbus, a New York City-based photographer and author of five books; Martha Posner, painter and sculptor from Martins Creek; Elise Schaffer, Arts & Access Always Program Administrator at the Lehigh Valley Arts Council; Ann Lalik, Gallery Director and Arts coordinator at Penn State Lehigh Valley.
Contact Ann Lalik for information at 610-285-5261 or aal13@psu.edu.
Eastern State Penitentiary offers a virtual walk through the historic cellblocks, exploring the penitentiary as it appeared in 1998 and The Voices of Eastern State Audio Tour mixing a dozen voices, including three former wardens and 25 guards and prisoners, creating an intimate tour of the cellblocks and yards. https://www.easternstate.org/
The Snow Goose Gallery hosts “The Art of the Miniature XXVII” through Aug. 30. The exhibit features 450 works in various media by 90 artists from 23 states and 12 countries on five continents. The entire show is on the gallery website and works are available for purchase. www.thesnowgoosegallery.com
Virtual Tunes at Twilight, the Historic Downtown Bethlehem concert series with music by Island Time, July 2 and James Supra and Sarah Ayers, July 9 on the Heart of Bethlehem Facebook Page. facebook.com/GetDowntownBethlehem/
The 27th Phillips Mill Photographic Exhibition photo show traditionally showcased in the Phillips Mill Gallery in New Hope is offered in an online gallery form. Juror Emmet Gowin, formerly professor of Art at Princeton University, selected 143 images out of 1,000 images submitted from professional and amateur photographers from 13 states and 3 countries. The gallery can be viewed at https://www.phillipsmillphoto.com/pmpe2020-exhibition
New Hope Arts offers a virtual exhibition series with new images shared by members and artists every five days. newhopearts.org/
The Allentown Art Museum will feature a new activity online each Sunday, along with coloring pages, storyboards and more. Participants can share their artwork for a chance to win a prize. allentownartmuseum.org
The Banana Factory is offering online tours of the exhibits “Compendium Chromas-Color Through the Decade,” and “Bubblegum.” by Cody Abrachinsky. https://www.bananafactory.org
Bucks County Choral Society artistic director Thomas Lloyd offers a music series of choral masterworks sung by the choir during his 20 years as artistic director. Works included in the program include J.S. Bach’s Et Resurrexit and St. Matthew Passion, as well as Edward Elgar’s The Apostles. Lloyd presents historical background on the music as well as relating its relevance to audiences of today. http://www.buckschoral.org/
The Bach Choir of Bethlehem offers virtual Bach at Noon performances at St. John’s Lutheran Church in downtown Allentown. Concerts will be videotaped, featuring smaller ensembles of musicians and no audience present. The taped performances will be presented online on The Bach Choir’s You Tube channel on the second Tuesday of the month in July and August. The July 14 program features soloists Sherezade Panthaki, soprano and Dashon Burton, bass-baritone and Mary Watt, oboe performing J.S. Bach, Gabriel Faure, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Georg Phillip Telemann. Aug. 11 program features soloists Nola Richardson, soprano and Janna Critz, mezzo-soprano and Elizabeth Field, violin performing J.S. Bach arias and duets include the duet from Cantata 78 – Wir eilen and George Frederick Handel Violin Sonata, Elizabeth Field. https://bach.org/event/bach-at-noon-june/
The Allentown Band offers opportunities to listen to recordings from Volume 26 of “Our Band Heritage” collection, featuring works exclusively by Pennsylvania composers and never before released selections from recent Side-by-Side concerts. allentownband.com/
Miller Symphony Hall@Home features presentations of past performances, intimate live recordings and a connection to online content to partners. https://www.millersymphonyhall.org
The Kimmel Center Cultural Campus and resident companies on social media present The Show Must Go On: #ArtHappensAtHome. Performance highlights, artist interviews, learning opportunities, and more are offered by Kimmel Center, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Curtis Institute of Music, Phialdanco, The Philly Pops, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. https://www.kimmelcenter.org/about-us/The-Show-Must-Go-On/
Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society and The Sigal Museum offers Museum at Home with virtual events, activities, educational links and historical facts. Explore the connections between fashion and social history in Eras of Elegance virtual exhibition and Business Trade Cards includes cards and advertisements for a variety of businesses, products, and services in Northampton County; a virtual archive sneak peek with curator Brittany Merriam; a virtual gallery tour of the first-floor gallery; online collections and archival footage; kids corner; online storytime, more. Visit sigalmuseum.org/museum-at-home. The COVID Chronicles, a writing and Archive Project with the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society and the Sigal Museum, offers participants the opportunity to record, collect, and preserve world history made in our region. The COVID Chronicles seeks to capture the stories of how the coronavirus impacts Lehigh Valley and neighboring community residents in real-time. Participants are asked to keep a daily journal of experiences. Once it is safe to do so, NCHGS will ask residents to submit their journals for preservation in Sigal Museum’s archives for future generations. They may be written accounts, photo or art journals, scrapbooks, or audio. For those interested in participating further, NCHGS will publish daily prompts to help encourage you to write. To see the daily journal prompts, post photos, videos, poems, stories, and more, join The COVID Chronicles Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/COVIDChronicles/
Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites online programs and offerings include free Sundays at Home E-blast, activities, crafts and videos to children. HBMS Art at Home introduces more than 600 works of art from local artists into homes across the region and country. Images will be posted in a slideshow with information on the artist who submitted the photo. Bag Lunch with Ilene Wood offered noon Monday-Friday, invites viewers into the home of collector and handbag historian Ilene Wood, for a show and tell of handbags from her collection that are not currently on show to the public in the “PURSEonality: A Stylish Handbag History Exhibition.” A daily photo that takes a look back at Bethlehem throughout history will be posted on Facebook each day. Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites Blog, updated biweekly, highlights interviews with HBMS artists and collaborators, and other interesting subjects. historicbethlehem.org
Emmaus Public Library events include Summer Storytime with Miss Sue, 10:30 a.m. July 7, 14, 21, 23 and Aug. 4, 11 and 18. The theme is “Imagine Your Story.” Creative Connections for adults will be held 1-3 p.m. June 11. The theme is “Roses.” Registration is required. Information is available at emmauspl.org
Palmerton Library offers online storytimes, information and activities throughout the week on its Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/palmertonarealibrary/
Book & Puppet Co. Easton offers Story Hour Book Club, Fractured Fables Puppet Show and Mangled Myths Puppet Show for Grownups. For information visitfacebook.com/bookandpuppet
The Da Vinci Science Center offers Science at Home activities. https://www.davincisciencecenter.org/
Crayola Experience and Crayola are providing fun, at-home activities through their websites and social channels. Parents can download free step-by-step crafting instructions, coloring pages, games, apps, and colorful science experiments using household items. They also can watch “Create-It-Yourself” videos, and learn tips and tricks to get creative with things around the house. Activities, live events, and video premiers will be posted on the Facebook channels and new activities will be added to the websites.
Websites: CrayolaExperience.com/Creativity-at-Home and Crayola.com/AtHome
Facebook: facebook.com/crayolaexperience/ and facebook.com/crayola/
ArtsQuest@Home, featuring a variety of curated and original content aggregated by ArtsQuest to offer engaging, entertaining and educational music and art-related content via diverse digital platforms. Live concerts by Musikfest and SteelStacks performers streamed from the artists’ homes and studios, movie talks with the staff of the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas, live-streamed ArtsQuest Toddler Storytimes and “Improvised Standup” comedy programming are among the highlights. Programming is free; some programs require advance registration. Visit artsquest.org/athome for dates, times and sign-ups.
National Museum of Industrial History offers virtual summer camp beginning July 6. The week-long programs, a collaboration with the Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC) and several Lehigh Valley companies, will include hands-on activities, one-on-one instruction, and a chance for participants to hear from young employees who have embarked on successful STEM careers.
Campers will utilize workbooks and supplies included in registration to work on projects with an NMIH educator via video chat. Martin Guitar, Wolsen Construction, Stanley Black and Decker, Mack Trucks, B. Braun, and ProtoCAM will all take part in speaking with participants and give an inside look at their advanced manufacturing facilities. Each week-long session will feature a different project and manufacturer. Sessions are $100 each and a limited number of scholarships are available.
Information on each session and registration can be found at nmih.org/educate/2020-engineering-summer-camp
