Remembering Jack Sinnitz
I know that many of you are already aware of the passing our friend, Jack Sinnitz. While I don’t have many personal memories of him, I always appreciated that he treated me with nothing but kindness even though I’m still relatively new around here. What struck me more than Jack’s kindness for me, however, was the fact that he genuinely loved and respected anyone who volunteered for Musikfest, Oktoberfest, and Christkindlmarkt. He kept us fed with delicious food and entertained us with boisterous humor. There seemed to be no limits to his generosity, and folks like that can be hard to find these days. The city of Bethlehem, and ArtsQuest certainly, is forever altered by his hard work throughout the years.
Knowing that many of you have more memories of Jack than I ever could, I reached out to Paul Fistner to help put into the words the impact that Jack had on us all. Let’s remember all that Jack did for us, and turn around to offer that same generosity to others in our daily lives.
—Cory Stevens
“The world just became a little bit darker and heaven a bit brighter with passing of my long time friend and founder of Heaven on a Bun, Jack Sinnitz. Jack and I met in the early 1960’s when we were both newspaper carriers for the former Bethlehem Globe-Times. I have always known him to be a huge personality with an even bigger heart.
Jack got his culinary training in the kitchen of the Wayhill Golf Course at Saucon Valley Country Club. After venturing out on his own he founded Heaven on a Bun Catering and Concessions. For the past 27 years Heaven on a Bun has become a highly successful food vendor at just about every festival and event, including some high school and college sports venues, throughout the Lehigh Valley region.
A huge emphasis in Jack’s life was helping other people and to give back as a way of showing gratitude for his blessings. With his will do/can do attitude he was always there to help, sometimes at a moment’s notice. In the early 2000’s, before the building of the ArtsQuest campus on the south side of the river, many folks would gather on the vacant Bethlehem Steel property to watch the Musikfest closing fireworks. A suggestion was made to provide food and beverage service to folks on the south side on the closing night. Despite having multiple locations on the north side to staff and run, Jack agreed to put the Heaven on a Bun food service trailer on the south side for a couple of hours on the closing night of Musikfest, thereby becoming the first food vendor to serve in the area that is now the ArtsQuest campus.
Jack had a special place in his heart and a real appreciation for the volunteers that are the heart of ArtsQuest. As many of us know, he was always certain to make sure that volunteers were well fed and hydrated. (Oh, that Texas Tea!)
On a more behind-the-scenes note, he was always the go-to person and mentor for the new food vendors at Musikfest who were sometimes overwhelmed by the magnitude of ArtsQuest events and often needed help navigating the City of Bethlehem requirements for permits and inspections. He was always there to give advice and often to physically lend a hand to anyone who needed it. He was the most grateful and caring individual, who was not only willing to try anything that came his way, but would express his gratitude for the opportunity.
In my final conversation with Jack he told me that he didn’t want any tears. I’m sorry, my friend, but that’s one request that cannot be honored!
Congratulations on a job well done and a life well lived!”
—Paul Fistner
