Cars & Coffee Lehigh Valley finds new home at Coca-Cola Park after SteelStacks cancellation

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Cars & Coffee Lehigh Valley will return this summer after all, with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs stepping in to host the popular monthly car show at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown following its cancellation at SteelStacks.

The first event at the new venue is scheduled for Sunday, May 31, from 8 a.m. to noon at 1050 IronPigs Way, organizers announced in a post on the event’s Facebook page. Additional dates are planned throughout the summer.

The show was thrown into uncertainty in March when ArtsQuest announced it would not host the 2026 season at its longtime Bethlehem home.

ArtsQuest cited ongoing construction in the PNC lot and around the Turn & Grind Shop — a 150-year-old former Bethlehem Steel building being converted into a new arts venue — along with a reduced event footprint and safety concerns for guests, staff and participating vehicles.

The cancellation drew an immediate response from fans, who flooded social media with suggested alternative venues. Coca-Cola Park was among the most frequently floated ideas.

Sam Jellinek, manager of broadcasting and media relations for the IronPigs, said the conversation between the two sides came together quickly once organizers began looking for a new home.

“They kind of looked around in the community [and] were like, okay, who else could kind of pull off something like this?” Jellinek said. He said the IronPigs typically host one or two car events a year, and organizers for both sides knew some of the same people in the local car community.

Jellinek credited Daniel Sterenberg, the IronPigs’ director of corporate ticket sales, with handling the outreach. Sterenberg had run the team’s prior car events and already knew several people involved with Cars & Coffee, Jellinek said.

“I’m not sure who made first contact. It seems to be kind of simultaneous, but the light bulb went off — hey, you’re looking for another spot,” he said.

Jellinek said the IronPigs will coordinate with the Allentown Police Department on security for the event.

For the first event, the IronPigs are providing the space rather than running the show. Jellinek said team concessions will not be open at the May 31 event because there was not enough time to turn them around, and he described the team’s involvement as primarily that of a venue host and community partner.

Whether the arrangement grows into a deeper collaboration in future years remains to be seen, he said.

“It’s just going to completely depend, honestly,” Jellinek said. “If things go well and the community enjoys it, we’re always happy to try to see where it goes from there.”

Cars & Coffee Lehigh Valley launched in 2013 at the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley, founded by Dan Kendra and Dr. Johnny Chung, before outgrowing that home and moving to SteelStacks. The series typically draws more than 20,000 visitors to SteelStacks across its spring and summer dates, according to ArtsQuest.

Organizers, in their announcement, said the May 31 event will feature exotic parking, vendors, spectator parking and show-car space, along with staff to direct arrivals. The event is free to attend. Vendors interested in participating have been directed to email [email protected].

ArtsQuest, which said last month that it was “exploring opportunities to bring Cars & Coffee back in the future,” has not announced a timeline for its return to SteelStacks. The Turn & Grind Shop renovation is expected to open as early as 2027.

The arrangement is not the first time this year the IronPigs have absorbed a signature Lehigh Valley event on short notice. In February, the team hosted the annual Lehigh Valley Polar Plunge after Special Olympics Pennsylvania had to relocate the event out of Easton due to the Delaware River freezing.

The event raised $211,000 for Special Olympics Pennsylvania, according to WFMZ.

Jellinek pointed to the Polar Plunge as a recent example of the kind of role the IronPigs have tried to play off the field.

“We can always help out a good community partner and player, to, you know, help save the day a little bit,” he said. “We’re happy to help.”

He said the team views itself as a community hub for events beyond baseball.

“The fact that we were able to kind of do this on the fly a little bit is, you know — what would to other people be stressful and hectic — to us is just kind of fun and part of the job,” Jellinek said.