Tie-dyed shirts and psychedelic sights and sounds will spill out into the city for the Age of Aquarius Festival Jan. 27 to Feb. 4.

This will be the second year for the event celebrating all things ’60s.

“The 1960s was a time of artistic exploration and self-expression that focused on both art and music,” said Larry Sassone, Associated Artists of Butler County president. “We wanted to bring that much-loved era back to life by celebrating the sights and sounds that made the ’60s so memorable.”

Sassone said the success of the first festival warranted a bigger and better event this year.

“Last year AOA was a huge success not only for the art center but also for the economic impact it brought to area merchants,” Sassone said. “For me, the best part was making new friends and sharing old memories.”

It took a little help from the tourism bureau to stretch the two-day event into a nine-day festival this year.

The state tourism bureau has selected the AOA festival as a featured destination event for January in its Cabin Fever promotional series, Sassone said.

“The PA Tourism Bureau from Harrisburg did a site visit to the art center and we had to demonstrate our willingness and professionalism to be considered a state tourism event,” he said.

“Apparently we convinced them,” Sassone said.

This year’s Age of Aquarius event aims to illuminate the era by featuring concerts, theater, a Warhol exhibit showing a replica of Warhol’s studio, and a host of other activities.

“The Age of Aquarius Festival is the perfect venue to have some fun and appreciate how the arts of that time have made an enormous impact on art and music today,” Sassone said.

“The Velvet Years 1965 to 1967,” a photography exhibit from Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will be on display at the AABC Art Center beginning Jan. 27.The exhibit depicts the scene at Andy Warhol’s studio, called The Factory, from 1965 to 1967. It includes 56 photographs taken by Stephen Shore. They capture a time when Warhol emerged as a prominent visual artist and avant-garde filmmaker. Photographs of Lou Reed’s band, The Velvet Underground, are also included in the exhibit.“The photographs are part of a traveling exhibit, and we are most fortunate to have gotten it. It is a perfect fit for the Age of Aquarius,” said Janet Gill Shilling, AABC exhibit coordinator.Warhol was a Western Pennsylvania native, and his Butler relatives will be on-hand during the festival’s first weekend to present a few of Warhol’s original pieces from their private collections.The AABC pays its own tribute to Warhol through an interactive exhibit that emulates his studio hangout. The Factory, established in 1962, was a gathering place for many experimental artists. The center’s Underground Gallery, transformed with foil and creative energy, will allow people to take part in Warhol’s world.Bethany Slater, an area artist and volunteer with the Age of Aquarius, is excited about giving people the opportunity for a hands-on experience.“We will have a variety of different stations where people can paint, silk screen and even do some video work like it was done in Warhol’s Factory,” Slater said.“At ART24 (in the fall of 2005), the silk screening was very popular so we are offering it again,” she said. “We are also going to make time capsules for each day, similar to Warhol’s approach, by saving things in a shoe box. People will be welcome to include items and at some future event we’ll do something interesting with them.”

Local artists will also try to capture the essence of the ’60s era through their artwork, which will be judged and awarded throughout the week.Shawn Farrester, a local artist, created an Iron Butterfly for the exhibit.“The Age of Aquarius is a fun opportunity for artists to have a theme to work with and use their creativity to enter the show,” Farrester said. “My piece was inspired by the group Iron Butterfly that will be playing during the festival.“As a metal worker, I find it refreshing and interesting to combine something soft, like fabric, with the hard steel,” he explained.Farrester’s mammoth butterfly and many other pieces of the artwork are for sale.A glimpse at how the turbulent ’60s impacted Butler will be featured through the Wall of Butler, an exhibit of archive photographs from the 1960s, presented by the Butler Eagle.

No ’60s festival would be complete without an exploration of the music which fueled the art and was fueled by it.The classic rock music played by the Iron Butterfly band included the 1968 hit, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” The group came of age in Los Angeles and was characterized by the heavy sounds and sentiments that reflected the revolutionary attitudes of the generation.Iron Butterfly will be performing live Feb. 4 at the Succop Theatre on the Butler county Community College campus.The stage at the art center will play host to a number of impersonators singing music from the ’60s and ’70s.Butler resident Chris Denem will impersonate Neil Diamond on Feb. 1 at the center.“I’ve been doing Neil Diamond since the late ’70s. His voice is a perfect fit for my own,” Denem said.“I will be singing some classic tunes from the late ’60s to the mid-’80s,” he said.

To get everyone in the ’60s music mood for the week, students from Point Park University in Pittsburgh will perform a rousing rendition of “Hair” on Jan. 29 at the art center.“Hair” debuted on Broadway on April 29, 1968, and ran for 1,742 performances. The musical questions the standards of morality, sexuality, individualism, racism, violence, drug use, loyalty and social acceptance during the ’60s.

In addition to works from local artists, most of which will be available for sale to benefit the art center, some works of Warhol will also be for sale.“We have some lovely numbered prints of Warhol’s ‘Flowers’ that will be for sale throughout the event,” said Gill Shilling.“The ‘Flowers’ printed in black are exactly the same in each rendition of the image; but the portions in color were put directly on the paper by hand,” Shilling said.As a result, each print will vary slightly in color from the other examples of that image and is therefore unique.While Warhol probably did not actually pick up the brush and color all 250 of each image himself, his signing his name to the work of art signaled his approval of the finished work.“Warhol’s signature on the reverse tells us that it is genuinely part of his legacy to us,” she said.The festival is sponsored by the AABC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging, fostering, and promoting the arts in the Butler County area. The association includes more than 250 members.Last year the Age of Aquarius Festival drew people from as far away as California and Florida.For more information on festival, visit the Web site at www.ageofaquarius.org, or call 724-283-6922.

The following events will be held at the AABC Art Center, 344 S. Main St., unless otherwise indicated.The Art Center will open every day during the festival at 10 a.m.<B>Jan. 27</B>- Opening of three exhibits: “The Velvet Years,” “Age of Aquarius Art Show” and “Wall of Butler,” 5 p.m.- People’s Choice voting takes place throughout the evening. Live entertainment, 7 p.m.<B>Jan. 28</B>- People’s Choice ribbon ceremony, 5 p.m.- Live entertainment, 7 p.m.<B>Jan. 29</B>- Point Park University students will perform, 2 p.m.<B>Jan. 30</B>- Lee Alverson performs as Elton John, 7 p.m.<B>Jan. 31</B>- Cos and Guy perform as the darling duo Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, 7 p.m.<B>Feb. 1</B>- Neil Diamond impersonator Chris Denem, 7 p.m.<B>Feb. 2</B>- John Lennon impersonator Bill Kropinak, 7 p.m.<B>Feb. 3</B>- Juried art show award winners announced at 5 p.m. followed by live music at 7 p.m.<B>Feb. 4 </B>- Second juried art show awards announced, 5 p.m.- Iron Butterfly takes the stage at the Butler County Community College’s Succop Theater, 8 p.m.