I was lucky to pick up a local gig on Saturday at a local park in the Hispanic section of Bethlehem. A local community action group sponsors these neighborhood events with kids events, free food from local vendors and Doug Roysdon from Mock Turtle Marionettes and myself alternate short set of interactive music and puppets. It was brutally hot, so we were set up under a small pop-up tent. The block was jumping, though, with dance, basketball, arts activities like face painting, mask making, etc.

I launched into some music and invited kids to stop over and play the shakers from my bag. There were actually some older kids who joined in along with some younger kids. It was hard work to engage and entertain these kids for a half hour, especially with so much going on around us. But, a lot of it is one on one, three on one work and is intense work.

It was great to look out over the park and see the neighborhood enjoying each other and the community situation for a Saturday afternoon. I was glad to be part of it, even in one small nook under a pop-up tent.