Editing Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (section)

==Arts and culture==
===Christmas celebrations===
[[File:Star of Bethlehem Main Street 2382px.jpg|thumb|A replica of the [[Star of Bethlehem]] on Main Street in Bethlehem with historic [[Hotel Bethlehem]] on the right in December 2007; Bethlehem is known as "Christmas City USA".]]
Bethlehem has a long historical relationship with the celebration of [[Christmas]], which is prominently celebrated in the city annually. The city was christened as Bethlehem on [[Christmas Eve]], 1741 by [[Nicolaus Zinzendorf]], a [[Moravian Church|Moravian]] bishop. In 1747, Bethlehem was the first U.S. city to feature a decorated [[Christmas tree]].<ref name="bexar-tx.tamu.edu"/>

On December 7, 1937, at a grand ceremony during the [[Great Depression]], the city adopted the nickname '''Christmas City USA'' in a large ceremony that included Marion Brown Grace, the daughter of former [[South Bethlehem Downtown Historic District|South Bethlehem]] burgess Charles F. Brown and wife of [[Bethlehem Steel]] president [[Eugene Grace]]. Hundreds of citizens attended the ceremony and thousands more listened to the speeches and musical performances on the radio, which was held at [[Hotel Bethlehem]],  then a two-room log house, where the original settlers conducted their evening worship on [[Christmas Eve]] in 1741. As their benefactor, Count Zinzendorf, observed the farm animals that shared the space and listened to the settlers sing the hymn, "Not Jerusalem, But Lowly Bethlehem", he proclaimed the name of the settlement to be Bethlehem. The people gathered at the 1937 ceremony heard the same words when the Bach Choir sang the old German hymn, "Jesu, Rufe Mich (Jesus, Call Thou Me)", by Adam Drese.

The ''Bethlehem Globe-Times'', which later merged into ''[[The Express-Times]]'', paid for the large wooden star erected on the top of [[South Mountain (Eastern Pennsylvania)|South Mountain]], at a cost of $460. The original star was created with four wooden planks, overlapped to create an eight-point star, which was 60 feet high and 51 feet wide, mounted on two wooden poles, and lit by 150 50-watt light bulbs. [[PPL Corporation]] and the Bethlehem Water Department installed the star, which was erected at the top of South Mountain on property owned by the Water Department, in [[Lower Saucon Township, Pennsylvania|Lower Saucon Township]].

In 1939, the wooden star was replaced with a star made of steel from [[Bethlehem Steel]], at a cost of $5,000. It had eight rays, with the main horizontal ray 81 feet wide and the main vertical ray 53 feet high. In 1967, the current star, 91 feet high, was installed on the old steel frame and set in a concrete base 25 feet wide by 5 feet deep. Plexiglas was installed to protect the 250 50-watt light bulbs. In the summer of 2006, the city repaired the base. A crew of municipal electricians changes the bulbs every two years.  Beginning in the mid-1990s, the star was lit from 4:30&nbsp;p.m. until midnight, every day of the year.<ref name="Christmas City USA"/>

===Bach Choir of Bethlehem===
{{Main|Bach Choir of Bethlehem}}
[[Bach Choir of Bethlehem]], founded in 1898, attracts thousands of visitors to the annual Bethlehem Bach Festival,<ref>bach.org/history.php</ref> held annually  on the campus of [[Lehigh University]] and on the historic grounds of the nation's earliest [[Moravian Church|Moravians]]. Other Bethlehem festivals include The Celtic Classic, which celebrates [[Celtic nations|Celtic]] culture, food and music,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.celticfest.org/|title=Celtic Classic 2015 - Bethlehem, PA - Highland Games, Irish and Celtic Music Festival|work=celticfest.org|access-date=January 13, 2007|archive-date=February 2, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202131314/http://celticfest.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[SouthSide Film Festival]], a film festival. The city also hosts the North East Art Rock Festival, or [[NEARFest]], a three-day [[progressive rock]] music event.

===Bethlehem Area Public Library===
The Bethlehem Area Public Library is a popular destination for recreation and entertainment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bapl.org/|title=Welcome to Bethlehem Area Public Library|work=bapl.org|access-date=January 13, 2007|archive-date=January 15, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070115055703/http://www.bapl.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Banana Factory houses studios of area artists and is open to the public every first Friday of the month.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bananafactory.org/|title=Banana Factory — Arts & Education Center|work=bananafactory.org|access-date=January 27, 2007|archive-date=February 2, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202171436/http://www.bananafactory.org/|url-status=live}}</ref>  Touchstone Theatre, also on Bethlehem's SouthSide, houses the Valley's only professional resident theatre company, which produces and presents original theatre performances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.touchstone.org/|title=Touchstone Theatre|work=touchstone.org|access-date=December 16, 2007|archive-date=December 31, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231073916/http://www.touchstone.org/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Musikfest===
{{Main|Musikfest}}
[[File:Weezer Bethlehem 2019 5.jpg|thumb|[[Musikfest]], the nation's largest free music festival, held annually in August in Bethlehem]]
Bethlehem hosts [[Musikfest]], the nation's largest free music festival, annually each August. The festival spans 10 days, attracts roughly a million attendees from all over the world, and features hundreds of musical acts from all genres.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.musikfest.org/venues/ |title=Largest 10 day free music festival |publisher=Musikfest |date= |access-date=May 26, 2012 |archive-date=May 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513145250/http://www.musikfest.org/venues/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===SteelStacks===
In 2011, ArtsQuest, a non-profit that runs Musikfest and other cultural facilities and events in the Bethlehem area, coordinated with local community partners including the City of Bethlehem and [[WLVT-TV|PBS 39]] to open SteelStacks. The facility currently spans a 10-acre campus on the former grounds of [[Bethlehem Steel]]. SteelStacks showcases music, art, festivals, films and educational programming throughout the year, and acts as the "South Side" portion of Musikfest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.steelstacks.org/history/ |title=SteelStacks - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania |access-date=2014-01-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207144430/http://www.steelstacks.org/history/ |archive-date=December 7, 2013 |df=mdy }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Our Story — ArtsQuest |url=https://www.artsquest.org/who-we-are/our-story/ |website=ArtsQuest |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref> It is located in the backdrop of the blast furnaces of the former Bethlehem Steel plant.

===Zoellner Arts Center===
{{main|Zoellner Arts Center}}
[[Lehigh University]]'s [[Zoellner Arts Center]] offers a variety of musical and dramatic events through the year.

===Other===
On the first Friday of the month, the businesses of the Southside Shopping District host First Friday,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://firstfridaybethlehem.com/ |title=First Friday, Southside Bethlehem |publisher=Downtown Bethlehem Association |access-date=May 10, 2010 |archive-date=July 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714015046/http://www.firstfridaybethlehem.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> a celebration of arts and culture. Stores, restaurants and art galleries stay open late and offer special discounts, refreshments, gallery openings and more. The [[Lehigh Canal]] provides hiking and biking opportunities along the canal [[towpath]] which follows the [[Lehigh River]] in Bethlehem. Both the Lehigh Canal and the [[Monocacy Creek (Lehigh River tributary)|Monocacy Creek]] are popular for sport fishing, and both are stocked annually with trout.

The [[Historic Moravian Bethlehem District]], also known as the Moravian Church Settlement, was inscribed as a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]] in 2024 as an extension of the [[Christiansfeld]] Moravian Church Settlement in Denmark.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Moravian Church Settlements |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1468 |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Convention}}</ref>