Coming back to Tucson for its 16th annual event is the Gem & Jam Festival. The festival is to take place Feb. 2-4 with a lineup of 50 different performers. 

The Gem & Jam Festival, located at the Pima County Fairgrounds, is a place for several types of music, art or gem enthusiasts. As it is set around the Tucson Gem & Mineral Shows, the event is themed as such. 

One of the festival’s organizers, Josh Pollack, calls the attendees of the festival ‘Gem & Jammers.’

“You can’t go wrong meeting someone or talking to a stranger, as the community of ‘Gem and Jammers’ are some of the kindest, thoughtful and most compassionate folks around,” Pollack said. 

There is a wide range of music genres that are going to be played, such as electronic, funk, soul, bluegrass and folk. In addition there will be ‘jambands’ according to Pollack. 

“ […] our crowd is incredibly open-minded,” Pollack said. 

According to Pollack this type of crowd is crucial since the festival likes to “mix up the lineups every year.”

As mentioned, there are plenty of different types of artists performing at this year’s festival. One of them being The Disco Biscuits, who are performing for the first time as a band at Gem & Jam. 

The Disco Biscuits’ bassist Marc Brownstein is excited for the opportunity to play at this festival.

“Bringing The Disco Biscuits to Gem & Jam has been a long time goal of ours. We are just so excited to be back in Arizona with the band at a time that the band is firing on all cylinders,” Brownstein said. 

The band is excited to play this festival as it is quite popular in their field of music. The music played at Gem & Jam is also quite similar to music played at Camp Bisco, the band’s own festival centered around EDM and Jam Band communities. 

“There are dozens of like-minded fests in the country at this point, and this is one of the last ones for us to visit,” Brownstein said. 

The Gem & Jam Festival also likes to have a variety of vendors attend.

“From jewelry and handmade clothing to rock specimens and home decor. We cover just about all of the festival essentials and gift shopping needs,” Pollack said. 

Pollack mentioned the festival food vendors “cover a span of all types and styles of the tastiest cuisines, and will feature vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options for all attendees to enjoy.”

The Gem & Jam Festival works with the local police and security to maintain everyone’s safety. There will also be a medical team specialized in harm reduction that has worked with the festival years prior. 

Find more information about the festival and ticket pricing, visit the Gem and Jam website.

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