Musikfest is fabulous at 40, having been a vibrant ingredient of summer in the Christmas City since 1984. The blend of music, food, fun and community is a recipe for success.

While music is the star of the show, food has to be a close second, as a variety of vendors consistently serve up everything under the sun – or, in this case, under the Star of Bethlehem.

“This year’s fest has been a new learning experience as we utilized our new pizza trailer, and provided personal size pizzas in our display,” Yianni Kyziridis, owner of Pat’s Pizza and Bistro, said.

This marks the third year at Musikfest for Pat’s, which is located at 1426 W. Broad St. and calls Wells Fargo Festplatz its second home during the fest.

“The response was unexpected as we went over 600 pizzas on a few of the nights,” Kyziridis said. “Other products did all right for us, such as penne vodka and some appetizers. We are already looking forward to next year’s Musikfest with a slight change on the set up to make things run a little smoother.”

“We hope that everyone enjoyed our food and I would also like to take the opportunity and thank all the friends that came by our booth to say hi and chat with us!” Kyziridis said.

“We love Bethlehem and Musikfest and we are happy to be part of it!”

The Lehigh Valley based MMG Concessions was dishing out yummy options such as chicken fingers and fries at Wells Fargo Festplatz, where staff had a ringside seat to the entertainment under the tent.

“We’re at all the local festivals – anything with “fest” at the end,” Dan Mowrey said with a laugh, “and some that don’t.”

MMG is a family business with Mowrey, his dad Dan and mom Judy. “Family, friends and locals work for us.”

“We’re super active in the local scene,” Mowrey said, adding they also have a pretzel store in the Palmer Park Mall, Easton.

Mowrey said MMG has been a Musikfest vendor since about 1994. “We started out with one stand in front of the Sun Inn.”

Mowrey especially likes the music and the people at the fest. “At other events, we’re just busy, but here long days go faster because of the environment.”

MMG staffer Nicole Nightlinger also spotlighted the music and the people at fest. “Even though it gets jam-packed, everyone is so nice,” Nightlinger said. “It’s truly family oriented.”

Elizabeth and Jenn were happy serving festers at D&J Concessions at Plaza Tropical, doling out treats like funnel cake, deep fried Oreos, fried or frozen cheesecake, and bloomin’ onion.

D&J has been a mainstay at Musikfest for 15 to 20 years.

“The music and the people are amazing,” Elizabeth said.

On my day off I like to go to the vendors and do some Christmas shopping,” Elizabeth said. “There are really talented artists here,” she said, referring to both vendors selling their wares and the musical artists performing at Plaza Tropical.

Festers will have to wait a year to taste what vendors cook up for Musikfest 2024, but it’s bound to be worth the wait.