Jambridge: A day of live music, beer & community spirit on Merchant Street

AMBRIDGE − Let's acknowledge the obvious: That's a clever name.

Jambridge.

Sure, organizers of the quadruple-stage music and beer festival Sept. 24 in downtown Ambridge could have picked the overdone "-palooza" route, but, no, they've named their festival "Jambridge."

Music fans, indeed, will hear some sweet jams, with a concert lineup headlined by Pittsburgh's much-in-demand rock band NASH.V.ILL, fronted by First Night Pittsburgh headliner Byron Nash.

The Jambridge lineup includes Different Places in Space, Shy Birds, River & Root, Beaver County's popular blues band Bobby Thompson & the Groove and local cosmic-soul group Mean Blue Planets.

The free concert, in the 900 block of Merchant Street, also offers Too Hearted, Prosperity Gospel featuring Tucker Muetzel, who's opened for The Clarks, and to launch the music in its hometown, the nationally recognized Ambridge High Steel Drum Band.

Two outdoor stages will keep the Jambridge music nonstop, while folks wishing to chill inside for a bit can catch a musical act at Fermata Brewing Co. (918 Merchant St.) or the Bridgetown Taphouse (939 Merchant St.).

Fermata, fellow Ambridge craft brewery Altered Genius (411 Merchant), Union Brothers Brewing of Zelienople, Lincoln Brewing of Bellevue and Allegheny City Brewing from Pittsburgh's North Side will pour their special brews at the event.

Jambridge takes place amid that invisible, tangible triangle of creativity and positivity between Bridgetown Taphouse, the catty-cornered Fermata, and Fermata's next-door neighbor Merchant Coffee Co. It is here where the #AmbridgeIsCool hashtag arose, and where partnerships among three community-minded businesses have spawned collaborative beverage and musical events.

Jambridge takes those collaborations to a larger scale.

"When we opened the brewery here, in talking with the other fine folks at Bridgetown Taphouse and Merchant Coffee, we knew immediately we wanted to put together some kind of event that would be really fun for the community and it would focus on music and art," Jared Tuk, one of the Fermata founders, said. "Because we all have a passion for it and we thought that would be something that would bring the community together and provide a really great event, not just for Ambridge but the surrounding communities."

From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Jambridge will take place on Merchant Street, closed to cars from 10th Street to in front of Fermata, with the adjacent side parking lot next to Merchant Coffee open.

A separate beer garden area will feature the five local breweries.

"That's over where the music is and that will be not a roped-off area, but a no-alcohol-past-this-point area to keep everything controlled," Merchant Coffee owner Kim Fabrizio said. "But then it'll flow out into an area with food and artist vendors and street magic. We have a magician."

"And then on top of all that, the Taphouse and Fermata are going to have indoor stages," Tuk said. "Smaller stages that provide an alternative to the big stuff outside, for people who want to come inside and see something that's a little more chill."

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There will be food trucks, of course, with two already confirmed: Little Athens Express and Annie Lee's Southern Kitchen.

The Taphouse and local pizza shops like Frank's Pizzeria (618 Duss Ave.) and Pizza House (aka the regionally famed "Police Station Pizza" at 1007 Merchant) also stand ready to satisfy appetites.

If all goes as planned, Jambridge could be the biggest outdoor event on Merchant Street since the former Nationality Days was in full swing.

Though it takes a village.

Local businesses, residents or organizations wishing to help sponsor the event can send sponsorship checks payable to Jambridge Festival Inc., addressed to 922 Merchant St., Ambridge, Pa., 15003. Information requests can be made at yo@jambridge.com.

A Jambridge website will be ready any day now, while the Facebook and Instagram sites for Fermata keep offering updates and reminders.

"I think it's really cool the same day that we're having this, there's another event happening in the park that's on the corner of 11th and Merchant," Fabrizio said. "That event is called Fall Festival of The Churches, and that's been going on in town for some time now. We're completely unrelated, but we have our festivals at the same time and that's going to be a lot of traffic going both ways, and it's gonna be beneficial to everybody."

The Ambridge fire chief, council members and borough manager all have offered support.

"We've had a lot of help on that side," Bridgetown Taphouse owner Rick Hendricks said.

Tuk said, "That's gonna be a great partnership with the borough. They're providing a lot of services so it goes off without a hitch."

Fabrizio says Jambridge will share a positive light on the community, "which I think in turn will bring people back to the community. And the more people come back, the more people will learn what's here and that will be a ripple effect out into the community and all the other awesome small businesses that are here."

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Jambridge brings live music, beer & community vibes to Merchant Street