Say goodbye to those paper food and beverage tickets at Musikfest.

For the first time, attendees will be able to use a debit or credit card to buy food, drinks and other items from vendors at Musikfest, which will run Aug. 6-15 on both North and South sides of Bethlehem.

Organizers announced Monday that this year’s festival will feature an updated payment system that eliminates the need for festivalgoers to buy paper food and beverage tickets. Credit and debit cards will be accepted throughout the festival. The new system will also allow for Apple Pay and other touchless methods.

Credit/debit cards can also be used at all official Musikfest beverage stations, including Coca-Cola booths, beer trucks and festival bars serving mixed drinks.

Kassie Hilgert, president and CEO of ArtsQuest, said Monday that this system will help streamline the festival, creating fewer lines.

“You used to have to go to three different lines before you have everything you wanted,” Hilgert said. “You’d have to stand in line for your tickets, then stand in line for food, then stand in line for a drink. Now you can get it all right away.”

For those who don’t use or have credit and debit cards, cash can still be used, by converting it into recyclable and reloadable CashCards at several locations throughout the festival. These cards work much the same way as a store gift card. No personal information is taken or stored; the cash is loaded onto the card and can be used and reloaded as needed.

Hilgert said that since COVID-19, many festivals are going cashless, but that wasn’t something Musikfest wanted to do.

“There is an issue of equity,” Hilgert said. “So many festivals are going cashless and there are a lot of folks who don’t have credit or debit cards and we don’t want to lock those folks out.”

CashCards will only work on festival grounds during the 10 days of the festival. As in years past, cash will still be accepted on the SteelStacks campus.

Musikfest runs Aug. 6-15, with a preview night Aug. 5. The festival will take place at more than a dozen venues in both north and south Bethlehem. That’s pretty close to a typical year, where there would be 17 or 18 venues.

In addition to the Steel Stage, the South Side music stages will include Americaplatz at Levitt Pavillion, Musikfest Cafe and Highmark Blue Shield Community Stage on Air Products Town Square.