Lineup for Second Sunday Concert Series Announced

will return this summer, with three free concerts scheduled during the months of June, July and August, HEP chair Susan Ackermann told Hellertown Borough Council May 7.

Ackermann noted that this will be a special year for the concert series, which is annually attended by hundreds of local residents who bring lawn chairs and blankets to the lush oasis of .

in 2012, the Second Sunday series is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and Dimmick Park is celebrating 75 years, Ackermann said.

In addition, one of the featured performers in this summer's series--the Quakertown Band--is celebrating its 135th anniversary this year.

"We've got a lot of anniversaries this year," Ackermann noted.

The Quakertown Band and the Bethlehem Municipal Band will be the main performers at the July 8 concert, when a pre-show will be performed by the Kristi Lynn Quartet.

Ackermann noted that Kristi Lynn Kosh, who leads the jazz ensemble, is "a Hellertown girl."

The first concert in the 2012 series will be held Sunday, June 10 and will feature Second Sunday favorite Chico's Vibe as the main act, with --performing during the pre-show.

The final free concert will be held Sunday, Aug. 11, and will feature the Poconos-based King Henry and the Showmen as the pre-show performer and the Philadelphia Funk Authority, a dance and party band, as the main act.

Ackermann compared the Philadelphia Funk Authority to Chico's Vibe, whose lively covers of jazz, funk, R&B and soul classics have proven popular with local audiences.

"I think you'll like them as much as you like Chico's Vibe," Ackermann said. "I think we'll be having them back again."

In her presentation to council, Ackermann also announced that she will soon be applying for a $50,000 charitable contribution toward , for which HEP has spearheaded fundraising efforts.

Council authorized the drafting of a letter in support of her effort to secure that funding.

Performers at the concerts in the park currently use the flat roof of a former bomb shelter as their stage.

The HEP's Dimmick Park Stage Committee, however, hopes to raise enough money to fund the construction of a covered, multi-purpose pavilion where the old bunker is now located.

A concert stage was part of the original park plan that dates to the late 1930s, but one was never constructed.