On Saturday, March 2nd, 2019, Columbia & Montour Counties will heat up with the sixth annual Destination Blues Music Festival, produced by The Exchange. In our first five years, following in the footsteps of the nearby Briggs Farm Blues Festival and Billtown Blues Festival, we have helped put our two-county region on the Blues map, and once again we will show visitors and local residents alike a great time at “Your Winter Blues Heaven on Route 11”. We have made exciting changes this year as we present a one-day Festival at 18 venues.
Thanks to the vision of the commissioners in both Columbia and Montour Counties, the Blues have a good home in our region,” says Oren B. Helbok, executive director of The Exchange. “Thousands of people from throughout Pennsylvania, as well as eight other states and the District of Columbia, have enjoyed the first five Festivals, and we will show them another great time this year.”
As an event founded to bring business to hotels, restaurants, brewpubs, and bars in Berwick, Bloomsburg, and Danville during the winter, the Festival has made these venues its sole focus this year. Performances by national and regional artists will take place all day and through the evening, with rising star Vanessa Collier at Berwick Brewing; regional sensation Swampcandy at Bloomsburg’s West End Ale Haus; and northeastern Pennsylvania’s own Dustin Douglas & The Electric Gentlemen at Rock God Brewing in Danville.
Other performers and venues include Bobby Kyle, who has traveled the world playing the Blues, with his band The Administers at Bloomsburg’s Study Bar; the Phyllis Hopkins Trio at a venue new to the Festival, Rolling Pines Golf Course, between Berwick and Bloomsburg; Dan Hess at Bandit’s Roadhouse in Berwick; JT Thompson and AC’s Soul Medicine at Old Forge Brewing in Danville; John Sweeney and Friends at Danville’s Pine Barn Inn; Nate Myers and Tom Rosencrans, JP Williams, and the Gabe Stillman Band at the Lightstreet Hotel; and Tom Graham at Marley’s Brewery and Grille. Downtown Bloomsburg will also host Stacia Abernatha and Sean Farley at The Exchange; Bret Alexander and Nyke Van Wyk at Rose Marie’s; Sweeney & Rosencrans and Benjamin Vo at Fog & Flame; John Sweeney & Mike Hickey, Chris LaRose and Dave Brown & The Dishonest Fiddlers at Filet 18; and Suzanne the Plan at Endless Records.
For the first time, the Festival venues will include the Berwick Theater and Center for Community Arts, with an all-ages, family-friendly concert by Gabe Stillman and the 3rd Street Blues Band from Williamsport, on Saturday afternoon. First Columbia Bank & Trust sponsors this Young Artist performance by students and graduates of Williamsport’s Uptown Music Collective.
In the later afternoon and evening, free, convenient, scheduled bus transportation by Susquehanna Limo will run among all of the venues and participating hotels in both counties. For more information on the full line-up, including the times of all performances, and hotel specials, visit Facebook.com/ColumbiaMontourBluesFest and DestinationBlues.org. Other Festival sponsors for 2019 include Columbia County, Montour County, and PPL. Richard Briggs of the Briggs Farm Blues Festival does the Festival booking.
For more information about the Exchange, visit ExchangeArts.org; contact us at 570-317-2596 or [email protected].