{"id":115307,"date":"2022-12-22T21:24:38","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T02:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=115307"},"modified":"2022-12-22T21:24:38","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T02:24:38","slug":"argentina-for-the-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=115307","title":{"rendered":"ARGENTINA FOR THE WIN!"},"content":{"rendered":"

SoccerFest 2022 wraps with final FIFA World Cup\u2122 match Sunday, Dec. 18<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

BETHLEHEM, Pa.\u2014 One last wave of soccer fever surged across the SteelStacks Campus Sunday, Dec. 18, as an excited crowd gathered to watch France face Argentina in the final match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup\u2122, broadcast live from Qatar and shown free inside the ArtsQuest Center at Palette & Pour and the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas.<\/p>\n

Soccer fever swept into the region this year with free viewing opportunities that began Friday, Nov. 18, and concluded with France\u2019s fall to Argentina in the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were proud to welcome our community to the ArtsQuest Center for the entirety of SoccerFest 2022,\u201d said Curt Mosel, ArtsQuest chief operating officer. \u201cAnd we\u2019re extremely thankful to our partners, sponsors and volunteers for making it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout November and December, ArtsQuest and presenting partner Wind Creek Bethlehem, in partnership with Lehigh Valley United (LVU), Lehigh Valley Health Network, Baby J Productions\/Sabroso Video, La Mega Radio, Coca-Cola of the Lehigh Valley, KLYR Rum, Discover Lehigh Valley and WFMZ (Edici\u00f3n En Espa\u00f1ol) TV69\u00a0hosted free viewing parties in the Musikfest Caf\u00e9 presented by Yuengling, Palette and Pour, Frank Banko Alehouse Red Cinema and the Air Products Town Square. The event was also supported by a committee of volunteers from LVU, Klunk & Milan, Gregory FCA and Discover Lehigh Valley. Free children\u2019s soccer clinics were also presented by Greg Ramos of Lehigh Valley United and DOMINATE the 18 Goalkeeper and Soccer Training.<\/p>\n

More than 5,000 f\u00fatbol fans spent time cheering and celebrating victories during SoccerFest 2022 at Bethlehem-based ArtsQuest, the Lehigh Valley\u2019s only FIFA approved World Cup viewing location.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing so many people come together, culminating in such great crowds for the USMNT games and the final game are a testament to this sport\u2019s important place in our community,\u201d Mosel said. \u201cIt was amazing to learn that more than 22 million people watched the World Cup final in the U.S.- that\u2019s more than the World Series!\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia and New Zealand will co-host the ninth\u00a0Women\u2019s FIFA World Cup<\/a>\u00a0from July 20 to Aug. 20 in 2023, as 32 nations are slated to compete for the first time since originally starting in 1991 as a 12-team tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t wait to welcome fans back to SteelStacks in July 2023,\u201d said Mosel. \u201cAs it looks now, there\u2019s going to be a lot of opportunity for Lehigh Valley soccer fans to rally around their favorites during the women\u2019s cup as the USWNT defends their back-to-back titles.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About ArtsQuest<\/strong>
\nArtsQuest\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0mission is to provide access to exceptional artistic, cultural and educational experiences using arts and culture as key elements of economic development for our urban communities. ArtsQuest\u2122 supports this mission via the presentation of performing and visual arts, film, arts education classes and outreach, youth programming and cultural events.<\/p>\n

Through festivals such as its flagship event,\u00a0Musikfest<\/a>; the\u00a0Banana Factory Arts Center<\/a>; and the ArtsQuest Center at\u00a0SteelStacks<\/a>\u00a0arts and cultural campus, ArtsQuest\u2019s programming reaches more than 1.9 million people annually. The organization\u2019s programs and events, approximately 50% of which are free to attend, have a combined economic impact of more than $136 million annually in the region. ArtsQuest is a proud member of NIVA, the\u00a0National Independent Venue Association<\/a>\u00a0and NATO, the\u00a0National Association of Theatre Owners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nShannon Keith, ArtsQuest
\nCommunications Director
\nhttp:\/\/www.artsquest.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SoccerFest 2022 wraps with final FIFA World Cup\u2122 match Sunday, Dec. 18 BETHLEHEM, Pa.\u2014 One last wave of soccer fever surged across the SteelStacks Campus Sunday, Dec. 18, as an … Continue reading ARGENTINA FOR THE WIN!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5717,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bethlehem","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/soccerfest.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}