Musikfest officially kicked off for the 43rd year under the big top at Festplatz Friday evening with officials recalling how it all came to be and promising yet another wonderful summer.

ArtsQuest President Kassie Hilgert began by thanking the 5,000 volunteers, staff and vendors who build and work the 10-day festival and the emergency responders and agencies that keep the city’s residents and visitors safe.

Pastor Janel Rice of Central Moravian Church delivered the opening prayer.

“Oh, God, music, it has been said, is how we can communicate with each other beyond words, to you and your creation. And now as we open this Musikfest, decades have gone before us that have brought us together. Allow this time again to remind us how we are called to live in the community and created to bring joy to each other. May this time connect us to see each other as siblings, as shared humanity, reminding of us in the diversity of music or the diversity of your creation.”

Mayor William Reynolds said, “Musikfest is the best of us. We are stronger together, and it’s cliché to say that for 10 days Musikfest is a big commercial for Bethlehem, but its also a commercial for what we can accomplish when we come together. Because Musikfest – you deal with some lines, you deal with some parking, its kinda hot – but for all those little things we give, what we get back is even better. That’s an experience we have with people we know, people we don’t know, people who’ve lived here for 50 years, and people who moved here last year, and we welcome them. We celebrate what happens when we come out of our houses, put our phones down, and don’t think just about ourselves.”

Hilgert said, “Last year … we had an economic impact on this region of $122 million. That’s not money going to ArtsQuest. That’s money going to every food vendor, every restaurant, every hotel. And I don’t have to tell you, today is tough. The economic climate is not easy this year. What we do, whether its Musikfest or Celtic Classic or ArtsQuest Center, is not a given. You might have seen the Berks Jazz Festival closed after 55 years without any fanfare this year, because things are tough out there. What you can do is what you are doing now. Show up, go to the restaurants, stay in the hotels, supports the 40-plus small business food vendors that are coming out here to make sure you have a good time. And thank every damn sponsor that is helping this festival.

“On behalf of all the boards, all the volunteers, all the staff, here’s to one hell of a 43rd Musikfest,” Hilgert said. “Thank you for making it possible. Let’s get this party started!”