ArtsQuest and the IronPigs have teamed up celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday with fireworks and a shared logo they hope will promote unity, patriotism and inclusion.
Leaders from the Bethlehem nonprofit and the baseball team showed off the logo designs during a Wednesday press conference at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown. Created by artist Doug Boehm, the design includes an American flag shield, a bald eagle, a drawing of the iconic SteelStacks and the phrase “MUSIC UNITES.”
“This partnership is about more than sports and the arts,” ArtsQuest COO Curt Mosel said. “It’s about community, unity and bringing a historic milestone to market together.”
The IronPigs will wear uniforms with the designs at six baseball games from April through September, and during ‘Festers Night on July 29. The designs also will be featured during the FIFA World Cup watch parties at SteelStacks and on the Musikfest mugs and official poster.
When asked why they chose Boehm, ArtsQuest President and CEO Kassie Hilgert highlighted his past work for album covers, Crayola, poster art for the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Musikfest mug and poster in 2020, prior to the festival’s COVID-related cancellation.
“We’ve never had an artist do a poster twice,” she said. “And so we wanted Doug. He’s got a great take and he’s got a great history in music and all different genres. He’s a musician himself. So we went to him and said, ‘Take the Musikfest tone and turn it into a celebration of America’s 250th,’ and that’s what he did.”
Boehm didn’t attend the Wednesday press conference and didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hilgert called the 250th anniversary “a milestone for any democracy. It’s a democracy you have to participate in, and we have to honor it while we constantly improve it.”
She added, “I think there is an importance, whether it’s at sports or at a concert, that you’re standing next to someone [and] you have no idea what their political belief is. You have no idea what their background is. You have no idea what they’ve gone through. But you’re experiencing something communal, and now I have a communal experience with you. Does that change our interaction with each other? I hope so. Does that [let us see] each other as more human? I hope so. So I hope we put our phones down and look up and look at each other more.”
IronPigs President and General Manager Kurt Landes said he was proud to do his part as an American citizen and help with the celebrations next year, which will include what he said will be the park’s largest fireworks show on July 3.
“I know when I talk to a few people about this who were able to be around 50 years ago, they have very vivid memories of how the country celebrated or how their regions celebrated the 200th anniversary,” Landes said. “So knowing that there was an opportunity to do something here that people are going to celebrate and remember for the next 50 years … I think a lot of people are going to want a souvenir from that. So to have a local artist create an art that celebrates unity and patriotism and collaboration, for something that people will want to have a souvenir or a hat or a jersey, I think that’s fantastic.”
Calling the park a venue that can bring Americans of any background or political ideology together, he added, “Coca-Cola Park and the IronPigs have always had a place of inclusion for everyone, regardless of race, sex, gender, everything.”
The new jersey and caps are available for purchase online, while the Musikfest mugs can be preordered.
Community organizations can also reach out to use the designs for their own 250th celebrations, Landes said.
