A popular Blues Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary under a different name and venue in Carbon County.

Known previously as the Pocono Blues Festival, the newly minted Pennsylvania Blues Festival will be held July 30-31 at Blue Mountain Ski Area near Palmerton.Pocono Blues Festival founder Michael Cloeren announced in a press release that the festival - which had been a three-day event staged at Jack Frost/Big Boulder Ski Area for the past 19 years - will continue its legacy."I am excited to be welcoming old and new music fans and friends to Blue Mountain with open arms, and you can expect an exceptional event from start to finish in this beautiful location," stated Cloeren.Heidi Lutz, director of marketing, said Blue Mountain Ski Area has formed a partnership with the award winning Cloeren, the founder and producer of the Pocono Blues Festival."We could not be happier to keep this exciting festival alive here at Blue Mountain" stated Lutz. "Blue Mountain is the perfect location to Host this event; we feel that the partnership with Michael will not only preserve the integrity of the past Blues Festivals but Blue Mountain will be able to continue the tradition of this fabled festival ."The Pennsylvania Blues Festival at Blue Mountain Resort will feature National and International Blues recording artists performing the best in Contemporary and Traditional Acoustic and Electric Blues, over the two days and two stages.It will also feature dozens of eclectic vendors from all over the country, plenty of food and beverage, on site camping, scenic chair lift rides in an acoustically perfect setting and location.Festival tickets and camping for the festival will go on sale in February. For tickets, lodging information, directions and updates, visit

www.skibluemt.com.Last month, Jack Frost/Big Boulder issued a statement on its web site that said it would, with regret, "cancel all off season festivals, including the Pocono Blues Festival at Big Boulder". In addition, the 40th annual Arts and Crafts Show scheduled Oct. 8-9 was also canceled.In the statement, Jack Frost/Big Boulder attributed the cancellation to the "current economic landscape", and stated "Peak Resorts felt the need to restructure the current operation and focus on the primary business of winter sports".Last year's three-day event was estimated to have attracted over 9,000 fans.This past October, Blue Mountain held its third annual Rock the Fall festival. As part of the free entertainment, the event focused on local acts instead of more high profile acts.Featured entertainment included the Jesse Wade Gang, Becky and the Beast, Kinetic Blu, Under the Wire, Dark, Lansdowne, Meadowland, UUU, and The Job.In 2009, the event saw performances by such national recording artists as Josh Gracin, Jessica Andrews, Tiffany Giardina, Randy House, Jimmy Wayne, Victory Factory, Care Bears on Fire and Honor Society.