International recording artist Barrence Whitfield is getting ready to shake up downtown Washington when he and his band take the stage at the 11th Annual Festival in the Borough on Saturday Sept. 26.

Northwest New Jersey’s largest street and music festival, which is free to attend, runs from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and will showcase 20-plus musical acts on three separate stages throughout the day and into the evening.

Whitfield, a native of Essex County, NJ, combines funk, soul, blues, and good old fashioned rock and roll, with bursts of hard charging vocals. Whitfield, who has toured all over the world, will be heading to England just days after his show in Washington.

Whitfield and his band is just one of many outstanding acts on tap for this always anticipated event. The musical line-up also includes crowd favorites Jimmy & The Parrots and Southbound, along with the Quimby Mountain Band, fresh off their southern tour with Grahame Lesh’s band, Midnight North. The band also made their way to Musikfest in Bethlehem this year where they commanded calls for an encore from the huge Main Street crowd.

Additionally, the festival line-up includes Electric Gumbo, Rockin’ Blue, The Steve Kirchuk Trio, the JerZgirls, Don Elliker, Gina Royale, Barkers Mill Band, Pulled Pork, Jack Tannehill, Zach Russack, Mike Kosec, and many other acts!

They will play across three distinct stages: The PNC Stage in the Town Clock lot; the Hackettstown Regional Medical Center/Wells Fargo Acoustic Stage at the corner of School Street and Rt. 57 at Gaia’s Gift Shop, and the Scotty’s Tavern Stage on Belvidere Avenue.

The Festival in the Borough music acts are free to attend and includes plenty of free parking. The streets will also be lined with dozens of eclectic vendors selling an amazing array of items, as well as a host of participating downtown businesses. Food of all varieties will also be on hand and the popular beer garden, hosted by the Washington Fire Department, will also be making a return.

The Festival in the Borough has been named the Top Festival in the Skylands Region and is truly a family-friendly event with lots of fun stuff for the kids to do at the Washington Outpatient Center/St. Luke’s Family Fun Area in the center of the downtown. The Fun Area features inflatable rides and free mini-golf courtesy of Stew’s Auto Body, Minion look-alikes, and other cool stuff for the young ones.

Major sponsorship for the festival is provided by PNC Bank, BASF, Fulton Bank, Washington Outpatient Center/St. Luke’s, Wells Fargo Bank, Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, WRNJ Radio, Good Impressions Printing & Mailing, Mr. Music, Scotty’s Tavern, and WNTI Radio, with grant funding from the Warren County Cultural & Heritage Commission.