Rock music may not be synonymous with the Carbon County Fair, though the genre will have a presence at this year’s event, held along Little Gap Road near Palmerton.

Mystery City will perform at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. on the Main Stage during the six-day fair’s penultimate evening, Aug. 12. The classic-rock cover band, making its Carbon County Fair debut, joins a short list of rock acts to play the fair since the first in 2000.

“We normally follow the type of music that draws the biggest crowd, i.e. country, oldies and variety bands,” said Earl Reabold, who sits on the Carbon County Lion/Lioness Fair Association Inc.’s board of directors. “We had three to four rock bands that played over the past 22 years which did not draw a big crowd.”

Reabold, a member of the Bowmanstown-Parryville Lions, noted that the Carbon County Fair, “is a small fair compared to Allentown, Bloomsburg, etc. These much larger fairs have multiple stages, much larger budget and all types of bands.”

The Carbon County Fair, though, Reabold added, remains “open for any type of entertainment that will draw a crowd.” For this year’s fair, “we had a few requests for Mystery City, so we decided to hire them and have them perform during a prime time.”

Mystery City, whose members hail from Carbon County and the northeastern Pennsylvania area, features: Rich Hook, guitar and vocals; Chuck Oehler, lead vocals; James Balogach, bass and vocals; Robb Justofin, lead guitar and vocals; and Albie Coccio, drums and vocals.

Over the years, Mystery City members “all have played in local bands such as Fallacy, Trim Hedges, Pop Tart Monkeys and Psycho Bettie,” Hook said. “I can say from a young age, we all had a strong interest in music and we can all thank our parents for that.”

Mystery City formed in 2014 when “myself, Chuck and Robb decided to put our efforts together to bring back the interest and crowd to the ‘live show,’” said Hook, who had reached out to local fairs such as Carbon County and West End in past years. “We all grew up in a time where seeing a live band was an event.

“The lights, sound and equipment all played a huge part in bringing the show together,” Hook continued. “

Eight-plus years later, our large, loyal fan base have proved our plan to be a good one. We couldn’t do it without our crew: Ivan, Brian, Rich and Scott.”

While Mystery City enjoys playing all the music in its sets, acts such as Aerosmith, Kiss, Sweet and Led Zeppelin rank high on the band’s list of favorite acts. Early on, the band included an original song, the Justofin-penned “A Good Night For a Mystery,” in its set list.

Justofin also presented the idea for the group’s name, which came from the band Hanoi Rocks’ 1983 album “Back to Mystery City.” Thus, despite a promotional photo showing Mystery City in front of the Mystery Machine, Scooby-Doo did not influence the band’s moniker.

“I’m sorry to say we are not in front of the original Mystery Machine,” Hook said. “The Scooby-Doo reference just started to attach itself to the band. Maybe through our fan base, but it stuck. As kids growing up in the ’70s, who didn’t watch ‘Scooby-Doo’ on a Saturday morning?”

Prior to the Carbon County Fair, Mystery City is slated for a Deck Party performance Aug. 5 at Penn’s Peak, just outside Jim Thorpe. The band, no stranger to playing the Peak, “is looking to take our show on the road and travel to other states,” Hook said.

Mystery City has also performed at Jim Thorpe’s Mauch Chunk Opera House, and hopes to play similar venues in the tri-state area. The band, Hook said, has “found a good balance between our music and professional lives. We treat this like our golf game, but take it very seriously.”

In the meantime, Mystery City looks forward to its first performance at the Carbon County Fair. Fairgoers planning to catch just one of the two sets, however, should stay close to the Main Stage for both performances.

“Sets will be comprised of different music,“ Hook said, “so stick around.”