Goldrush, a local progressive bluegrass group, will add its contemporary sound to the usual holiday music that fills the first weekend of December in Newtown each year, with the new Jingle Bell Jam concert, Saturday, December 6, in the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall. From 7 to 8 pm, concertgoers will be treated to classic holiday songs “with a Goldrush flair,” promised Mary Beth Sippin, the band’s founder.

Ms Sippin provides vocals for the group, along with guitarist husband, Gary, and pianist Chris Coogan. Dick Neal on banjo, mandolin, and guitar; Gary Wikfors on mandolin, John Widgren on pedal steel, and John Mobilio on bass round out the band.

The Jingle Bell Jam is a new concept for the kick-off to the holidays, Ms Sippin said. The event is being presented by Sippin Energy and Newtown Savings Bank. Beginning with the Ram Pasture Tree Lighting on the first Friday evening in December each year, the weekend is one of festive events that create traditions for many. The Rotary Pancake Breakfast, the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Holiday Book Sale, and the Garden Club of Newtown greens sale usually take place that first Saturday of December, followed by a full day of activities that make up the Annual Holiday Festival, sponsored by Newtown Savings Bank to benefit the Newtown Youth & Family Services (NYFS), on Sunday (see related story).

“We are so excited to take part. Every year I have thought how I wished we could do something like a Christmas concert,” Ms Sippin said. “We all want to have something to do, as a family tradition, and I would hope that this concert could become a tradition for everyone, just like the other events have on this weekend,” she said.

Ms Sippin started working on the idea of a holiday concert tied into the Holiday Festival last year she said, with Tanya Truaxx, from Newtown Savings Bank.

“It has been wonderful working with Newtown Savings Bank,” said Ms Sippin. “What better thing is there than to have a concert tied in to this fundraiser? When you’re involved in something that helps people in your own hometown, that’s a good feeling. This is what a community does — build on talent we have here.”

Goldrush sees this concert as something new for families, especially those with older children who may have outgrown some of the Holiday Festival offerings.

At the Jingle Bell Jam, concertgoers will have the chance to see Goldrush “in a whole new way,” Ms Sippin said. The group is well known locally and around the state for its original material, and Americana “new grass” sound. Putting a twist on familiar songs will be fun, she said, “and they will be songs that make you feel the holiday spirit. It’s nice for artists not to be pigionholed into a category,” she said.

“I just love Newtown,” said Ms Sippin, who along with her husband has been a resident for 30 years, and who own Sippin Energy. “I’m excited to start something new for the holiday season, and maybe start a new tradition for many families: ‘Let’s go to the Jingle Bell Jam.’ We’re happy to kick off this event. It will be fun, and,” she added, “if it snows just a little bit…”

Holiday Festival tickets and Jingle Bell Jam tickets are available in advance at Newtown Savings Bank (Main Street and Sand Hill Plaza locations in Newtown, and on Federal Road in Brookfield); Everything Newtown, 61 Church Hill Road; and in the NYFS administrative offices, 15 Berkshire Road. Admission to The Jingle Bell Jam will be a separate $10 ticket purchase. Those who attend Jingle Bell Jam can then take the ticket stub from that event to the Festival on Sunday and receive reduced admission of $5 off an adult ticket.

Holiday Festival tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children ($10 maximum for children in a family, and $25 for the Family 4-Pack (two adults and two children). Tickets for the Holiday Festival can also be purchased Sunday, December 7, in Edmond Town Hall. A limited number of tickets for the Jingle Bell Jam may be available the evening of the concert, at the door.