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After last year's 19th A Lehigh Valley Christmas in Concert, organizer Miriam Huertas, exhausted by the work involved, told everyone within earshot it would be the last. "People don't take me seriously," said Huertas, the chamber's senior vice president for Allentown initiatives. "People said, 'Do 20! Do 20! That's a nice, even number.' So I thought, 'OK, that makes sense. So I'll do 20.'" So this year's show, the concert's 20th edition, truly will be the last, Huertas says. It's set for 7 p.m. Sunday at Allentown's Miller Symphony Hall. As in years past, the concert will feature some of the Valley's best acts — 17 of them — playing holiday favorites with a broad range of musical styles. Craig Thatcher and Nyke Van Wyk, for example, will rock out with Jethro Tull's "A Christmas Song." Hector Rosado Y Ensemble Siete will will add Latin rhythms to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Folk singer Dave Fry will perform "Mary Had a Baby" and "Zat You, Santa Claus" and Lucky 7 will present a soulful "This Christmas." "I love this concert. I love everything about it," Huertas says. "But my job has just changed so much and I have taken on so many additional events and projects and my responsibility has just grown greatly." A Lehigh Valley Christmas has come a long way. It started as a private release party concert for a Christmas music compilation many of the same artists did in 1996 on Bummer Tent Records. The label was then owned by Huertas and her husband, musician Mike Krisukas. The couple dreamed up the album while on vacation on a Greek island in 1996, and recorded it just two months before the holiday. Krisukas even revived his band Zen For Primates for the disc. The release party was at the former J.I. Rodale Theatre on Linden Street in Allentown. "It was very homey," Krisukas says. "That first one was really just like a private party. Everybody brought their own food — it was like a pot luck thing. And we just threw a party at the theater and had everybody perform. "I don't know if we really had an intent to do it more, but it went so well and it was so much fun for everybody that we figured we would do it again, and it just kept rolling." For its second year, A Lehigh Christmas moved to Northampton's Roxy Theater, and to Allentown's Civic Theatre for its third. "That's where it really took off," Krisukas says. "It grew totally naturally and organically. Everybody really liked it." But after the concert's 11th year, Huertas felt similarly burned out, especially by having to produce the CD, and she and Krisukas decided a decade of A Lehigh Valley Christmas was enough. "We just thought, 'It's had a good life. ... I think we're good here,'" Huertas says. But the community's reaction persuaded her to reconsider. "Everywhere we went, and I'm not exaggerating, we'd be walking or shopping at Wegmans, and people would stop us and [say], 'You're really gonna bring that back, right? You don't really mean it — you're just taking a break.' "It was a very important holiday tradition for so many people, Mike and me included. We love the holidays — we're big Christmas kind of people." After a year off, Huertas started working at the chamber and says she pitched the idea to chamber President Tony Iannelli to make the concert a chamber fundraising event. In 2008, it was back — this time at Symphony Hall. Over the years, Krisukas says, the concert's timing has moved to make it sort of a kickoff of the season for most of the musicians involved. "Over time, for various reasons, it ended up moving up in the calendar," he says. "All of the theaters have theatrical things going for Christmas. 'The Nutcracker' tends to be a very big thing, and 'The Christmas Carol.' "So we would kind of slide in before that. But it worked out being really nice because what it was was this kind of kickoff to everybody's happy but frantic Christmas season." Huertas says that in planning the final year, "We put a note out to almost everyone who has participated. An ad in the concert program will list everyone who performed on all four of the stages of this event over the 20 years." "It's a really special list," she says. Artists who have performed every year include Krisukas and Jake Kaligis & the New Constitution, Huertas says. Other stalwarts have been Darlene Finelli and Fry, who says he has missed just a couple of years. George Miller has been the only spoken-word artist in the concert's history. All are back this year. Despite it being the concert's final year, Huertas and Krisukas say the format won't change. "The whole essence of it has worked so well," Krisukas says. He attributes that to longtime stage manager Donna Kistler. "We couldn't do this without her, because it is very frantic," he says. "Like this vaudeville show. You go out and do your two songs, and this hook comes out. It's really fun." But Huertas says she won't be surprised if the artists acknowledge it in their songs or some other way. "As the night progresses and people are having a good time backstage, sometimes things change and there are added musicians," she says. "And then we have the all-star finale. That will ultra-special, because that will be the grand finale." Krisukas says his role over the years has been "the musical end" of the show. "Once it started to be more theatrical and we moved into bigger spaces, I was basically stuck — not unwantingly — behind the stage," he says with a laugh. "And so that became the whole fun and enjoyment for all these years. … Still to this year, I know what it's like and it's so much fun. I mean, most of the musicians are in that same boat — they're backstage either rehearsing things and people are hooking up with other musicians. Backstage they say, 'Why don't you join me when we do our little bit on stage.' That happens all the time and it's really great. "I'm really going to miss that. We've been doing this so long, it's a big family situation back there. As it's actually happening now, there's a sadness to it." Fry agrees. He says there are two things he'll miss about A Lehigh Valley Christmas. "To play that stage is just amazing," Fry says. "To perform in front of a big crowd that you can't see but can react to is a marvelous performing experience. You feed off the crowd and the great sound system. That has always been a remarkable experience for me." The other, he says, is the opportunity to get together with other Lehigh Valley artists. "It's basically a homecoming," he says. "It's very rare that musicians get to play together and meet backstage and say hello. Especially people from outside your own genre. I get to see the horn players from Lucky 7 and the classical performers, and the gospel folks like James Bartley, and the big band folks. "It's an amazing experience, and I'll miss that perhaps more than anything. That's really what I take out of it the most." Huertas says she's hoping to replace A Lehigh Valley Christmas with another type of program, but isn't ready to say what — though it won't be "the combination of all these artists." But she says A Lehigh Valley Christmas is so loved, she could see it coming back in a changed format some day. "You know, it is beautiful," she says. "It's something that just lifts your spirits. It really does. It's the combination of the list of artists and the blend of music. And the beautiful voices and their own renditions. It really is rather meaningful. "And so, could I see it coming back in some way? In a different way, perhaps." A LEHIGH VALLEY CHRISTMAS •When: 7 p.m. Sunday •Where: Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown •How much: $30 •Performers: Craig Thatcher & Nyke Van Wyke, Mike Krisukas, Jake Kaligis & the New Constitution, Doug Hawk, The BC Combo, Hector Rosado Y Ensemble Siete, Dave Fry, Fusion Jazz Trio, Darlene Finelli, George Miller, Fionna Hennessy, James Ruhf Bagpipers, Myron Haydt, Lucky 7, Greg Edwards, James Bartley & Gerry Pegues, and Jack Murray & The Blue Tarp Wranglers Read the original article here.