Musikfest back in business after weekend flooding
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (WPVI) -- Over the weekend, heavy rain led to some big flooding problems at Musikfest in Bethlehem and parts of the festival were shut down to fest-goers.
But organizers say everyone came together to get things back open as quickly as possible.
It's like the flood that washed away thousands of dollars of merchandise never happened - 60 to 70 percent of all business is done on the weekends here and vendors want you to come back and take it all in.
On the north side of Musikfest, vendors are slinging everything from scented candles to spicy salsa. It's a far cry from Saturday when the waters of the Monocacy Creek overflowed, just before the big Musikfest weekend rush.
"It crested and came over the wall. Itflooded right through all the Volksplatz area," said Curt Mosel, ArtsQuest.
Drone video overhead illustrates the damage, with the gushing water, thousands of dollars in merchandise and food was swept away.
"It took vendor's equipment all their treasures and what not right down with it all the merchandise out of the tent, it was crazy," said Mosel.
And the blows kept coming, after cleaning the water up Saturday afternoon, another swell came through..
'We patiently waited it out. We went for the OK to get back in there. Once we did, it was a mad dash and we got as much as we could cleaned up on Saturday night," said Mosel.
After a giant clean up effort by vendors, volunteers, emergency services, and staff, the area fully reopened.
Tuesday at Musikfest Volksplatz and Festplatz, there's no sign of any damage and vendors are back with help from friends.
"For a bad situation, a lot of people lost a lot of things but it was very nice - we all got along really well and everybody helped out and that's what you do. This is a pretty tightknit community," said Ken Ingalls from Little House Candles.
The goal now is just to get people out here, shopping eating, dancing and listening to music.
Musikfest runs through Sunday, August 12.
For a full lineup of events,visit: Musikfest.org.
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