New Year's Eve celebration set
Butler will Ring in the Arts again this year with festivities from 6:30 p.m. to midnight downtown on New Year's Eve.
“I think we have a good variety this year,” said Larry Stock of the Butler Arts Council, who organizes the event with his sister, Mayor Maggie Stock.
Entertainment for the eighth annual event will take place at three sites:
• The Art Center, 344 S. Main St.
• Grace at Calvary Church, 123 E. Diamond St.
• Cornerstone Commons, 201 S. Main St.
“New this year is the countdown toast to midnight at The Art Center,” said Maggie Stock.
Hats and noisemakers for the evening are complimentary, as is the midnight toast.
Admission is $8 for adults, $4 for children age 12 and younger, and free for children younger than 6. Admission wristbands will be available Saturday at two of the performance sites: The Art Center or Cornerstone Commons.
• 6:30 to 7:45 p.m.Singer/songwriter<B> Brad Yoder</B> of Pittsburgh logs more than 150 performances annually, playing colleges, cafés, churches and festivals. Along the way, he has sold more than 7,000 copies of five self-released CDs and led more than 30 workshops.• 8 to 9:15 p.m.<B>Mac Martin & the Dixie Travelers</B> is a semiprofessional, traditional bluegrass band that plays in the Pittsburgh area. Martin has shown a knack for taking quality songs from the near forgotten past and developing arrangements of them that fit the style of the Dixie Travelers.• 9:45 to 11 p.m.Folk group<B> Simple Gifts</B> is two women performing an array of instruments, including two violins, a mandolin, a hammered dulcimer, recorders and a guitar plus some more unusual instruments like the bowed psaltery, baritone fiddle, banjolin, guitjo and doumbek.The duo of Linda Littleton and Karen Hirshon presents a wide variety of ethnic folk music, including everything from lively Irish jigs and down-home American reels to hard-driving Klezmer freilachs, haunting Gypsy melodies, and exotic Balkan dance tunes.• 11:15 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.<B>Black Rock Country</B> is a high-energy contemporary country rock band that draws upon its roots in country and rock, putting its own style on familiar big guitar country hits.
• 7:15 to 8:15 p.m.<B>Just Us Barbershop Quartet </B>is set to perform from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Grace church• 9 to 10 p.m.<B>Occasional Divas</B>, a Butler group that focuses on bringing oldies as well as contemporary songs, will perform from 9 to 9:45 p.m. at Grace at Calvary Church.• 10:15 to 11:15 p.m.<B>Butler Center for the Performing Arts </B>will present a variety show.<B>Cornerstone Commons</B>• 7 to 8:15 p.m.The <B>Tornado Big Band </B>is returning to the lineup for this year's Ring in the Arts.The group, made up of Butler High School band students, will perform from 7 to 8:15 p.m. in the Cornerstone Commons Grand Ballroom, 201 S. Main St.The group filled the Grand Ballroom to capacity on New Year's Eve 2009, but its members were in Arizona last year to perform in the Fort McDowell Fiesta Bowl Parade.• 8:30 to 9:45 p.m.<B>Magician Tim Kutch</B> has performed for packed crowd's at Butler's Ring in the Arts celebration several times before. Growing up, Kutch won many awards for his magic. He has trained extensively, developed a one-of-a-kind bird act, and holds memberships in the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the Society of American Magicians and the Magicians Alliance of the Eastern States.• 10 to 11:15 p.m.Wrapping up the entertainment at Cornerstone Commons will be <B>Agape Christian Rock with Washboard Tony</B>.
