Oct
20
2:00 PM14:00

Stone House Breakdown

Stone House Breakdown - which won an award as the best bluegrass band in Central Pennsylvania last year - will be performing at the Eicher Arts Center in Ephrata on Oct. 20.

The band got the award from the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame. Stone House Breakdown will play from 2 pm. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 20 at the historic Eicher House, 409 Cocalico St. in Ephrata Borough’s Grater Park. Admission is free.

The band plays original songs in traditional bluegrass style, old time standards, bluegrass gospel and contemporary Americana folk.

Inspired by beautiful countryside in Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley, the band took its name in part from Old Stone House Road in Monroe Township, Cumberland County.

Stone House Breakdown members include Jena Bombay, vocals and guitar; her husband Robb Bomboy, vocals and mandolin, who Jena first met at an open mic in Winchester, Va.; Jena’s father Jan Strock, bass; Patrick MacDonald Jr., vocals and banjo, who has been playing Earl Scruggs-style banjo for about 16 years, and Tish Brown, vocals and fiddle.

Stone House Breakdown revives and celebrates Appalachian music. The band’s style is reminiscent of the music of the Stanley Brothers, who began performing in the 1940s and in 1995 were inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor.

The Oct. 20 concert is part of series of admission-free, Sunday afternoon cultural and entertainment shows for the public at the Eicher. Donations to the Eicher Arts Center, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, will be accepted. The organization also rents out the historic Eicher House for private events such as weddings.

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Sep
22
2:00 PM14:00

Maggie Spike

The Maggie Spike Trio will perform Sept. 22 at the Eicher Arts Center in Ephrata. From left are Henry Patterson, Maggie and Spike.

Playing songs in an array of musical styles, the Maggie Spike Trio will entertain the public on Sept. 22 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Eicher Arts Center, 409 Cocalico St. In Ephrata Borough’s Grater Park.

Weather permitting, the performance will be outdoors in the beautiful park. Audience members are urged to bring folding chairs. Admission is free. Donations will be accepted.

Singer-songwriters Eric (Spike) and Peggy (Maggie) Gernerd are married, formed the musical group Maggie Spike and sometimes perform as a duo.

Eric first picked up acoustic guitar to play the songs of musicians such as Neil Young and Bob Dylan. He later delved more deeply into American and world folk music.

Peggy, inspired by vocalists such as Carol King and Joni Mitchell, wrote her first song at 18. She later learned more about her Irish ancestry and Celtic music, and some of her musical creations reflect both Celtic and jazz influences.

They joined with percussionist Henry Patterson to create and perform as a trio original songs in the American folk, Celtic, jazz and world rhythm genres. They will also perform at the Eicher event “fun covers” of other composers’ songs in those genres.

In addition to vocals and percussion, Maggie plays guitar and ukulele and Spike plays guitar, banjo and Irish bouzouki.

The Maggie Spike Trio’s world rhythm music features calypso, reggae, Mediterranean, Afro-Cuban, African, Brazilian and Middle Eastern influences.

Patterson’s drumming is characterized by Maggie Spike as exciting and tasteful as well as eclectic. Some of the percussion instruments featured by the trio include Irish bodhran, African djembe, Spanish castanets, Middle Eastern dumbek, Afro-Cuban bongos, Latin American cabana and shakere, musical washboards and spoons and wood blocks.

The Sept. 22 performance is part of the 2024 series of admission-free, Sunday afternoon shows hosted by the Eicher Arts Center, Inc., a 501 (c) non-profit organization formed four decades ago to save the historic Eicher House from demolition, find new uses for it and help Ephrata Borough transform one of Ephrata’s oldest buildings into a showplace cultural and entertainment venue. The non-profit organization also rents out the facility for weddings and other private events.

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Jun
9
2:00 PM14:00

Ice Cream Sundae Fun Day!

Ice Cream Sundae Fun Day!

Joyful Canvas

Penn Woods Theatre in Miniature

Across The Pond

The Celtic band Across the Pond will provide the musical entertainment to cap the Eicher Arts Center’s annual Ice Cream Sundae Day the afternoon of June 9.

Admission is free. Anyone in attendance may stop at the historic Eicher Center, 409 Cocalico St. In Ephrata Borough’s Grater Park, to get an ice cream sundae, starting at 2 p.m. and continuing while supplies last, probably till about 5 p.m. Hot dogs and other food and drinks will also be available.

The event will be held rain or shine. People may bring their own folding chairs with them.

Across the Pond will perform in a tent outside the Eicher Center from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

According to Dan Diviney of Across the Pond, “From the Burren to the Highlands to Appalachia, we find the best tunes, then add our own unique arrangements. From slow airs to driving jigs and reels, to lilting slip jigs, to soulful love songs and ballads, we aim to please.”

The group calls its music Celtic Trad - High Octane, and has performed at numerous festivals in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

The music is only part of the family fun at the Eicher’s June 9 event.

Joyful Canvas will be painting children’s faces and handing out balloon creations from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Inside the Eicher House, Penn’s Woods Theater in Miniature will be displaying impressive theatrical and puppetry skills with two showings of the play Rumpelstilskin, one starting at 2:15 p.m. and one at 3:15 p.m.

The Eicher House was built as a farmhouse for the Eicher family some 290 years ago. Four decades ago the structure had deteriorated and was threatened with demolition. The Eicher Arts Center, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, was formed to help transform the building into a showplace venue for public cultural and entertainment events that also is rented out for weddings and other private gatherings.

An event featuring ice cream sundaes on the second Sunday in June has become an annual Eicher Arts Center tradition, and often attracts the largest crowd of any event in the organization’s series of admission-free Sunday afternoon shows. Donations to the arts center will be accepted.

Face painting and balloon creations by Joyful Canvas were popular with youngster’s at last year’s Ice Cream Sundae Day. Joyful Canvas will be back at the 2024 event on June 9.

The group Across the Pond will play high-octane Celtic music as part of the Eicher Arts Center’s Ice Cream Sundae Day on June 9.

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May
19
2:00 PM14:00

Temple Ave

Temple Avenue is pictured here performing at the Eicher Arts Center in 2019. The group will return to the Eicher in Ephrata on May 19 at 2 p.m.

Temple Avenue, a musical foursome that puts its own spin on jazz and swing standards, will perform May 19 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Eicher Arts Center, 409 Cocalico St. In Ephrata Borough’s Grater Park. Admission is free.

Weather permitting, the event will take place outdoors. Audience members are urged to bring folding chairs with them.

In 2011 pianist Colin Mekeel, then a high school junior, started the Lancaster-based Temple Avenue jazz group with friends who were enrolled in the jazz program at Philadelphia-based Temple University.

Temple Avenue plays concerts, dances, receptions and other events throughout south-central Pennsylvania. Many of the songs it plays are well-known standards that have come to be part of the Great American Songbook, but the group also features some lesser-known musical gems.

In addition to Mekeel, the Temple Avenue members at the May 19 show will include singer Cecilia Ferneborg, alto saxophonist Mervin Toussaint and bassist Josh Machiz.

The May 19 show is part of the 2024 series of admission-free Sunday afternoon musical events hosted by Eicher Arts Center, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. Donations to the organization will be accepted.

The group was founded 40 years ago when the historic Eicher House was threatened with demolition. It worked with the borough to transform the structure into a showplace venue for cultural events for the public that also is rented out for weddings and other private events.

Anyone interested in sponsoring future public events there May contact the Arts Center at info@eicherartscenter.com.

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