Reid Borthwick seemed skeptical.
Even at the young age of 2, he knew enough to doubt the claim of the man standing in front of him. He was pretty sure Tyler Reed couldn’t turn him into a piggy bank.
But then the impossible happened.
Reed waved a black wand over the boy’s head and muttered a few magic words. He reached behind the toddler’s left ear and pulled out a coin, dropping it with a clang into a metal bucket.
Reid stared with his mouth agape in disbelief and awe, reaching his own hand behind his ear trying to figure out what had just happened. Surely, it must have been magic.
Reed, a magician, spent Saturday morning entertaining an audience of delighted children and adults inside FirstEnergy Stadium. It was the kickoff of what promised to be a magical day.
The stadium played host to the second annual Berks Summer Fest. The free event featured activities for people of all ages, opportunities to create artwork and four musical performances on the Plaza Stage in the concourse.
Berks Summer Fest is the result of the Berks Arts Council reimagining the City Park Bandshell Concert Series, which began in 1991 and ran each summer until 2022.
Amanda Ehst, community programs manager for the Berks Arts Council, said the organization focused its efforts into an event that would bring together all of its community partners for one big summer festival.
“We want people to come out and have a good time,” she said as she looked around at the people filtering into the stadium. “This is something that we all come together to do for our community.”
J.T. and Martha Hostetler said they brought their two sons to the event Saturday specifically to see the magician perform.
The Morgantown couple said their 7-year-old son, Milo, is obsessed with anything that has to do with enchantment. But it was clear that their 3-year-old son, Dana, thought the giant inflatable slide was the best thing about the festival.
“Milo came for the magic, Dana came for the slide,” Martha Hostetler said with a laugh as she watched her little one immediately start climbing the ladder up the slide again as soon as he landed from zooming down it.
Nearby, Daniel Trach and Caden Bell were chucking bean bags toward the opening of the cornhole board in front of them. The 16-year-olds had heard about the festival and thought it would be a nice way to spend the afternoon.
“This is a nice event,” Bell said. “It gives people a chance to get out and do something fun outside in the sunshine.”
“Yeah, I think they did a pretty good job putting this together,” Trach added.
Sue Creed of Exeter Township was happy that the festival coincided with her grandchildren, Michael and Shannon White, visiting from Virginia. She said she read about the event and thought it would be a good opportunity to spend some quality time with them.
The duo even got a chance to make a cameo in the magic show.
“This is a really nice event that they put on here,” she said.
Source: Berkshire mont
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