The 13th annual Curt Simmons Day and Egypt Memorial Park Festival was held May 30. The accompanying car show was filled with vintage cars to view and admire, and the indoor areas of the festival were nearly full and pulsating to the music of GirlCrue in the afternoon and the Aardvarks in the evening.

Members of the Egypt Memorial Park board and volunteers hustled around the event selling drinks, helping attendees and assisting wherever needed. The volunteer team was impressive with their coordinated effort and upbeat tempo.

Event coordinator Shelly Dorn, of Egypt, energetically helped wherever needed, buzzing around like a bee in a large spring flower bed. Dorn is a consummate “roll up your sleeves, hands-on” leader, serving her team and attendees as needed.

Diane Huber and Heather Kern cheerfully staffed the ticket sale table for the large basket social that raised funds for the park. Both were delighted with the weather, compared to last year’s heavy rain.

Festival musical entertainment featured two quality bands that stimulated a large turnout of patrons under the park’s main pavilion. Attendees delightfully danced to their up-tempo, quality music.

Popular band GirlCrue played popular hit songs, and the Aardvarks has a large local following.

There were games for kids, face painting, a wide variety of foods to choose from, the basket raffle, car show and a number of craft vendors. The duck pond area was popular for the youngsters as they were thrilled when they picked up a winning numbered duck to win a prize.

Crystal Rockel, of Northampton, staffed her Rainbow Concoctions stand, selling a variety of sweets, baked items and more.

The festival honors a former giant in the local baseball scene. Curt Simmons was a native of the village of Egypt in Whitehall Township.

Simmons spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was a member of the Whiz Kids team that won the National League pennant in 1950. Simmons is touted by the Egypt Memorial Park Association as “Egypt’s favorite ballplayer.”

Simmons died in 2022 at age 93. When he was a teenager leading the Coplay American Legion baseball team to two state Legion baseball crowns, who could have imagined his future Major League Baseball success and that a grateful Egypt community would one day hold an annual festival in his honor?

The day was a delightful mixture of musical entertainment, diverse foods, games, fun, craft vendors and more.