ALTON - Downtown Alton will be full of beers, bands, artists and merry-makers Saturday with Rock the Hops in full swing.

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The event will take place from 2-8 p.m. Saturday Aug. 19, at a variety of places in Downtown Alton. Organizers Drew and Hope Mader suggest purchasing tickets in advance rockthehops.bpt.me, but day-of-show tickets are available at the Alton Visitors Bureau at 200 Piasa Street. Paid admission gets people beer samples at each venue, shuttle service and a commemorative tasting glass.

This year's venues include: Old Bakery Beer Company, Elijah P's Chez Marilyn, Tony's Vogue Room, Bottle and Barrel, Germania BrewHaus and Hops House at the Argosy. Each venue has its own unique beer and band lineup.

"We generally seek venues that are actively participating in craft beer culture, since it is a craft beer-centric music and arts festival," Drew Mader said in an email. "We put out a call early in the year for sponsors and venues and had a great response from people wanting to get involved."

A similar call is sent by the Maders for musicians and artists. Bands this year include several solo and full band acts such as MFG, Lauren Waters, Friend of Youth and Biff K'narly and the Reptilians.

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Hope Mader said the extra venues on East Broadway will go well with Old Bakery Beer Company, which was once on its lonesome from downtown. She said Bottle and Barrel and Germania add to the party, making it "a nice little cluster."

"Rock the Hops is meant to shine a big bright light on musicians, artists and craft beer makers that are putting their heart and soul out on the line via creations from their own minds," Drew Mader said. "Appreciation of the arts is something people talk about a lot, but when you get right down to it, the best way to truly support art is to show up when artists put their craft on display, be it original music or other mediums. And, of course, craft beer pairs well with all of this!"

When asked about their perceived state of Alton culture, which is conducive to events such as these, Drew and Hope Mader said the following:

Drew: It's interesting. There seems to be a lot of little pockets of activity that sort of stay inside their own circles. I think efforts could be much more impactful if there was more openness to collaboration, and to give people unconditional opportunities to do their thing and live out their ideas and visions. We are very thankful to have had that unconditional opportunity in the past two years, especially.

Hope: There's no shortage of talent or passion in Alton. I've seen a lot of new activity, even in just the last year, from people who are quietly going about their days, trying to make a positive impact on their neighborhoods and within our community. It's been pretty cool to connect with these people and watch new ideas take shape.

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