If you’re in downtown Allentown on Sunday, don’t be surprised if the world around you bursts into song.
Or 50 songs.
That’s because from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, the first-ever 50 Spots begins. What is 50 Spots? It’s an initiative from The Alternative Gallery, nonprofit organization in Allentown whose goal is to strengthen communities through the arts and education.
And 50 Spots is just one of the ways the group will be working towards that goal. 50 different musical acts — whether its a solo artist or a whole band — will start playing right at noon at 50 designated spots across downtown Allentown, including parks, city landmarks and independent businesses.
The Alternative Gallery posted the locations Friday on Facebook.
The Alternative Gallery also recommends a specific route in order to check out all of the music going on around town. There’ll be a team of videographers making their way around town documenting the afternoon.
Brandon Wunder, executive director at the gallery and the mastermind behind the project, wanted to figure out some way to have more live music across Allentown, and knew that with a good idea and some dedication, there could be a change.
“This is a grassroots project that goes hand in hand with the development happening in the city,” said Wunder, whose gallery also puts on the Allentown ArtsFest each year.
All of these performances will collectively highlight the potential Allentown has to be bursting with the arts. The city already has an Arts Walk along Court Street in Center City, and last month opened a $1.4 million pedestrian corridor linking it to developments on Hamilton Street. The Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority funded with tax revenue from the new developments paid for the project.
When Wunder was putting together the locations for the project, he leaned heavily into places in the downtown area that highlighted Allentown’s culture (and were also within a walkable distance).
The Alternative Gallery already had a strong network of musicians to hop on board with the idea, and then the gallery collaborated with them to reach out to even more artists.
The primary goal of 50 Spots is to create more locales around the city for live music, expanding the opportunities for local musicians to get their groove on. Wunder and other volunteers dug into the city’s history and found plenty of laws and ordinances from the past 200 years that restricted live music in certain parts of the city or times of the year.
“We’re trying to create a new law that will wipe the slate clean and start a new era where we’re supporting musicians, we’re serious about having music in our city and giving parts of our city to music,” he said.
So from these 50 locations, Wunder’s goal is to have five become official busking spots this year for street performers. But with more to come in the future, as the city has been responsive and helpful to Wunder as he put the initiative together. So much so, in fact, that it’s already asked to have the event next year.
And Wunder’s already crafting ideas for slightly smaller-scale versions in the future, perhaps solely on Seventh Street or in the city’s West End. Regardless, the project should slowly but surely provide a huge boost to Allentown’s cultural impact.
“With these with these protections for street musicians, hopefully we’ll see an influx of musicians from across the country that know they can come here,” he said.
But the fun doesn’t stop after the clock hits 4 p.m. and the music stops. There will be an afterparty at Queen City BBQ immediately following the performances. But if everything goes well, the party across Allentown won’t really ever stop.
Connor Lagore may be reached at clagore@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @clagore34. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.