{"id":261761,"date":"2026-08-08T19:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/261761\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:26:07","slug":"festival-goers-jazzed-up-for-annual-festival-in-scranton-this-weekend-scranton-times-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/261761\/","title":{"rendered":"Festival goers jazzed up for annual festival in Scranton this weekend \u2013 Scranton Times-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A bit of New Orleans\u2019 French Quarter came to Scranton this weekend during the city\u2019s annual Jazz Festival, an event that has become a beloved tradition for many.<\/p>\n<p>What began 21 years ago as a two-day festival at Nay Aug Park with about 300 people in attendance has expanded across the city, attracting thousands of locals and visitors from around the country to enjoy a weekend of jazz music and spirit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have over 24 venues involved with the festival\u2014restaurants, bars, retail spaces. The musicians performing in those spaces bring a lot of attention to our downtown,\u201d said Scranton Jazz Festival co-founder and artistic director Marko Marcinko.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, those traveling to the festival frequent local hotels and other businesses, providing a boost to the local economy, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Marcinko said many residents and businesses were appropriately \u201cjazzed up\u201d over the festival, which attracts not only jazz aficionados, but also general music lovers and people looking for a fun night out.<\/p>\n<p>Music, merriment, fun<\/p>\n<p>John Heim III, co-owner of Bartari on Adams Avenue, noted that the annual festival brings customers to businesses throughout downtown Scranton, not just the area around Courthouse Square.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a great event, and it\u2019s great for businesses,\u201d Heim said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jazz came to Warney Cellar and Tap Friday evening on...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/STT-L-JAZZFEST-0809-04.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jazz came to Warney Cellar and Tap Friday evening on Aug. 7,  offering live music to customers as part of the annual Jazz Festival. Mike Kuehn &amp; the PA Jazz Society delighted the crowd. (SUBMITTED)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Heim III, co-owner of Bartari prepares for an influx...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/STT-L-JAZZFEST-0809-01.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>John Heim III, co-owner of Bartari prepares for an influx of customers Saturday Aug. 8, 2026, during the city\u2019s Jazz Festival. (GERI GIBBONS\/STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Scranton Art Haus participated in Scranton Jazz Festival this weekend....\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/STT-L-JAZZFEST-0809-02.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Scranton Art Haus participated in Scranton Jazz Festival this weekend. The business had live jazz music both Friday and Saturday evening, Aug. 8, 2026.  (GERI GIBBONS\/STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 3<\/p>\n<p>Jazz came to Warney Cellar and Tap Friday evening on Aug. 7,  offering live music to customers as part of the annual Jazz Festival. Mike Kuehn &amp; the PA Jazz Society delighted the crowd. (SUBMITTED)\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Friday night, the business kicked off the celebration with jazz-rock fusion band Rogue Chimp. Saturday evening featured Latin Jazz &amp; World Beat with Bill Washer, Paul Rostock, Bob Velez, and Doug Beavers.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, Bartari will participate in the festival\u2019s Jazz Brunch.<\/p>\n<p>In honor of the weekend\u2019s vibe, the business is offering its colorful Famous Fish Bowl drink, made with pineapple-orange vodka, mango juice, Nerds and Swedish Fish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs long as the business is open, it will participate in the event,\u201d Heim said, crediting Marcinko with putting together an excellent weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Jazzing Up Business<\/p>\n<p>Several Basalyga Hospitality venues took part in the festivities this weekend, calling it \u201cone of downtown Scranton\u2019s biggest weekends of live music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur two biggest participating locations are A\u2019tera 519 and Sergei\u2019s, and both are preparing quite a bit,\u201d said Sheila Bonanno, operations director. In addition to live music, both businesses extended their hours in order to accommodate festival goers.<\/p>\n<p>Bonanno pointed out that Sergei\u2019s was originally opened as an ode to musicians, making their participation in the jazz-themed weekend a perfect fit. Meanwhile, A\u2019tera 519 is serving New Orleans-style entrees throughout the event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for people to really get to know jazz\u2014both those who don\u2019t know a lot about it and old-timers who love it,\u201d said A\u2019tera 519 General Manager Gabe Wilkins. \u201cI\u2019ve been hearing the buzz; customers are really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re even considering continuing jazz after the festival,\u201d Bonanno said, \u201cdoing something like a Friday night jazz event moving forward for customers who really enjoy live jazz.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bonanno enjoyed seeing the city streets come alive with a special excitement unique to the festival.<\/p>\n<p>The festival continues Sunday, opening with a Jazz Brunch at six participating restaurants throughout downtown Scranton and concluding with a performance by legendary bassist Ron Carter at the Scranton Cultural Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bit of New Orleans\u2019 French Quarter came to Scranton this weekend during the city\u2019s annual Jazz Festival,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[182,139,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-261761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}