Indian Summer Jars concert at Eicher

Indian Summer Jars will perform its high-energy blend of folk, blues and bluegrass music Oct. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Eicher Arts Center in Grater Park at 409 Cocalico St., Ephrata. Admission is free. Refreshments will be provided.

The band plays original music by Sarah Beth Fiore from East Berlin, whose songwriting has won awards from the Susquehanna Folk Music Society and the Philadelphia Songwriters Project. Both her parents played music; Sunday night was often music night at her home when she was growing up. Sarah she began playing the guitar when she was eight. She has come to love playing and singing before a live audience as part of Indian Summer Jars.

“To me,” Sarah said, “it’s where you feel you go to get the energy back.”

Sarah Beth is lead vocalist and guitarist for Indian Summer Jars, with: Dani Fiore, percussion and vocals; Jason Whetstone, accordion, harmony vocals and pennywhistle; and Jenn Hara, vocalist.

The group’s name refers to the last burst of summer-like days in late fall, and jars are metaphors for holding onto the warmth and good feeling of that time.

“It reminds me to stay open,” Sarah says, “to seize the moment.”

One of her songs to be performed at the Ephrata concert will be “Circles,” a new, high-energy song about reaching out to widening circles of people in life, including people quite different from you.

Another one of Sarah Beth’s songs at the concert will be “September,” a song inspired by a real-life story of someone who lost a cousin.

“I cry sometimes when I play it,” she said, but she feels the theme of treasuring people and holding moments precious is a positive one.

The Oct. 18 concert is part of an annual series of admission-free events that the Eicher Arts Center Inc. hosts at the historic Eicher House near Cocalico Creek. Donations to the Eicher Arts Center will be accepted.