Some of Western Pennsylvania’s best bluegrass musicians will descend on Butler this weekend for the 23rd annual January Ice Jam music festival.

Bands will take the stage every half-hour Jan. 10 and 11 as the Days Inn on Route 8 is transformed into a picker’s paradise, with most rooms wide open and filled with musicians playing until all hours of the morning. While the main ballroom can accommodate a good-sized crowd, many attendees spend their time wandering the halls from one jam to the next.

“I really love getting to spend time with my friends in the bluegrass community,” said Amy George before last year’s festival.

George is one of the festival’s organizers and a member of the bluegrass band Bits’n Pieces, which has been around for about three decades.

“There’s so many great things about the weekend: raising money for our charity, (the Bluegrass Relief Fund), helping people in need and having a good time,” she said.

The festival is free and open to the public.

Bands begin at 7 p.m. on Jan. 10, and at noon on Jan. 11. Here is the festival schedule:

Friday

7 p.m. – Keep Off The Grass 7:30 p.m. – Glass Run Road 8 p.m. – Echo Valley 8:30 p.m. – Starlight Bluegrass Band 9 p.m. – Casual Hobos 9:30 p.m. – Howlin’ at the Moon 10 p.m. – Dirty Old Mill

Saturday

12:00 p.m. – Done Inn String Band 12:30 p.m. – Home Remedy 1 p.m. – Sweaty Already String Band 1:30 p.m. – Pennsylvania Crude 2 p.m. – Bits ‘n Pieces 2:30 p.m. – Better Late 3 p.m. – Echo Valley 3:30 p.m. – TakeSolo 4 p.m. – Lost & Lonesome 4:30 p.m. – Allegheny Drifters 5 p.m. – Tiger Maple String Band 5:30 p.m. – NA Fiddlers 6 p.m. – Springtime Hill Barn Band 6:30 p.m. – Fern Hollow 7 p.m. – Wildwood Express 7:30 p.m. – David Mayfield Parade 8 p.m. – M & M Express 8:30 p.m. – Hidden Drive 9 p.m. – Identity Crisis 9:30 p.m. – Matt Efaw and Rural Free Delivery 10 p.m. – Shameless Hex

For more, see JanuaryIceJam.com.

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