Today, the 19^th Annual Lehigh Valley Music Awards take place at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks. You know the deal by now, right? LVU’s official preshow begins at 3 p.m. on the first floor, with the ceremony kicking off promptly at 4 p.m. inside of the Musikfest Café on the third floor. Songs will be performed. Awards will be won. Good times, hopefully, will be enjoyed by all.

I’ve been observing this event for a few years now. In 2015, one of my former Quinn Spinn co-hosts and I popped out to Bethlehem because we heard about the LVMAs and simply wanted to see what it was about. In 2016 – with LVU in its mere infancy – I worked the event as Event Staff at ArtsQuest, which gave me unique perspective and ability to chime in with this article that pops up around here every now and again. Last year, I was grateful that not only I, but LVU, had found a way to become a significant part of it all – and, by LVU going 0-for-8 for the day’s awards, my prior year’s belief that impact can be achieved in this community, regardless of accolades, was re-affirmed.

This year, just hours away from the event, I’m encouraged.

I’m encouraged because this year seems different within our community. Aside from some social media banter early in the voting process, there has been very little in the way of polarized, contentious conversation around an event meant to bring the community together. The echo chamber of complaining that has historically permeated Facebook in particular has dulled significantly, in favor of a newer, more progressive mindset.

This year, the community seems to be expressing a collective understanding that an event like this – although literally titled the “Lehigh Valley Music Awards” – has very little to do with wins and losses at the end of the day. It’s about togetherness. It’s about the single-largest containment of talent in one room that our community sees all year, and about creating new opportunities for the members of that community, no matter where they are in their respective careers. Friends who never get to each other’s gigs (because they are gigging themselves) get to catch up. People meet for the first time who, perhaps, only knew each other through social media or by name beforehand. New collaborations and friendships come out of this event, which lead to greater opportunities and a more unified community. All of these relationships, old and new, make us stronger than what we were before.

And, yes, some people win awards. Some don’t. Such is the nature of an event like this.

However, I challenge you again to think beyond that, and to think about the impact you can have on this community, and the impact that it can have on you. Whether you drive away in a U-Haul full of plaques at the end of tonight, or you leave with as many awards as you entered with, today is an excellent opportunity to find your place within the landscape of our scene – which, by all measures, is still growing into something pretty special in its own right.

Once you find that place, invite more like-minded people into it. Make it better. Find unity in the fact that we are all fighting, against myriad life factors on a daily basis, to keep doing what we do. What we love.

Spread messages of encouragement and positivity. Love each other. That’s what “community” is and needs to be to thrive, after all.

See you at SteelStacks, and best of luck!