Pickin' is just grand at the Ice Jam
BUTLER TWP — The pickin' is plentiful and the fiddlin' fabulous at the January Ice Jam in the township.
The annual bluegrass festival is celebrating its 23rd anniversary this weekend at the Butler Days Inn on Route 8 south. The two-day event concludes around 11 p.m. Saturday.
“It keeps getting better and better, and bigger and bigger,” said Amy George, one of the festival's organizers and a member of the bluegrass band Bits'n Pieces, which has been around for about three decades.
It was standing room only at the hotel's ballroom for much of today's performances, with 500 people in attendance at any given time. Organizers expect 3,000 enthusiasts will have attended the event before it comes to a close.
“Bluegrass music is really popular in Western Pennsylvania,” George said. “There are lots of jams out and about and there are a lots of bands that have been together for years and there are up and coming bands.
“The music is just fantastic. It's a lot of acoustic, really 'feeling' kind of music, and people can't get enough of it. The musicians can't play it enough and the listeners can't listen enough.”
In all, 28 bands were to perform at the January Ice Jam, which has become one of the premier bluegrass events in Western Pennsylvania. Each band offered up a 30-minute session.
Read more in Monday's Butler Eagle
