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Rick Morelli: Luzerne County far better off under home rule

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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Dominik Simon, Matt Murray, Derrick Pouliot heading to the 2016 AHL All-Star game

<p>LAKE HARMONY &#8212; Pennsylvania Blues Festival will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, but 2016 is only the festival&#8217;s second year at Split Rock Resort in Lake Harmony. The gypsy festival called Big Boulder Ski Resort, also in Lake Harmony, home between 1992 and 2010 before transitioning to Palmerton&#8217;s Blue Mountain Ski Area from 2011-13.</p><p>&#8220;It was another good few years, but the event wasn&#8217;t going up or down in attendance,&#8221; festival founder and producer Michael Cloren said. &#8220;At that point, I asked their blessing to see if another venue was interested in hosting; they said yes and we brought it to Split Rock Resort during the last week in July 2015.&#8221;</p><p>This year&#8217;s Pennsylvania Blues Festival doesn&#8217;t start until Sept. 16, but tickets for the event go on sale Monday. There&#8217;s a myriad of options available to potential festival-goers, including general admission tickets, tickets to indoor showcase events and registration for a Sunday blues brunch. VIP tickets at $199 include admission to the festival, private shuttle between stages, admission to an after party, access to a main stage photo pit, indoor showcase buffets and commemorative shirt and laminated pass. VIP tickets jump to $235 after Aug. 1.</p><p>January may seem a little early to make plans for September, but the majority of the festival&#8217;s 17 national acts have already been announced. New York State Blues Hall of Fame inductee Slam Allen, Mississippi blues artist Zac Harmon and saxophonist/singer/songwriter Vanessa Collier are just three of the 14 acts announced so far; one act in particular already has Cloren excited for September.</p><p>Harrison Kennedy is 73 years old and used to be in a band called The Chairmen of the Board in the &#8217;70s,&#8221; Cloren said. &#8220;He&#8217;s one of the reasons I do the blues festival &#8212; for artists who have been doing it for a lifetime and have been getting better with age. There&#8217;s definitely a need for it in this type of music.&#8221;</p><p>The festival will also include a vendors&#8217; marketplace that, according to Split Rock representative Kyle Kuczma, will be indicative of the festival.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re having different food and craft vendors, not just people doing flea market kind of stuff,&#8221; Kuczma said. &#8220;We actually go through and pick vendors who make sense for the festival and are a good fit.&#8221;</p><p>According to Cloren, the festival is happy to have a new home at Split Rock because the resort offers the event and its attendees everything they need within close proximity. Kuczma said Split Rock is happy to host a festival with such a strong niche audience.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters will perform at the 25th Pennsylvania Blues Festival at Split Rock Resort. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Ronnie-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters will perform at the 25th Pennsylvania Blues Festival at Split Rock Resort. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Slam-Allen_008-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">New York State Blues Hall of Fame inductee Slam Allen will perform at the 25th Pennsylvania Blues Festival at Split Rock Resort. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Slam-Allen_008-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>New York State Blues Hall of Fame inductee Slam Allen will perform at the 25th Pennsylvania Blues Festival at Split Rock Resort. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Gene Axton</p><p>gaxton@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Gene Axton at 570-991-6121 or on Twitter @TLArts</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Tickets for Pennsylvania Blues Festival set for September at Split Rock Resort go on sale Monday