The Bullfrog Brewery is going all out to celebrate the legacy of 26 years in downtown Williamsport the way they have since 1996 — with live music, craft beers and creative food.

The celebration starts at 3 p.m. Saturday with live music both upstairs and downstairs.

There are nearly a half dozen musical acts from Williamsport and the surrounding area.

All of the acts have performed at the Bullfrog before, adding to the impressive list of musicians that have played the brewery over the years.

The event will showcase a lot of fresh ideas, Bullfrog staffers said. They will release a couple new barrel-aged beers in the “Le Roar Grrz” lineup as well as new drafts including a brown ale called “All the Leaves” and a “Black Currant Wheat.”

The day will feature a very limited fresh-hopped cider, Bullfrog food menu staples and new specialty merchandise.

‘Always a given’

When Steve Koch started the brewery, he always had the ambition to showcase the variety of music that the brewery still does today.

The event Saturday is a testament to those connections made with the music community over the years.

“Live music was always a given for the space,” Koch said.

In the early days, Koch said he sent 400 letters to record labels in the country and internationally asking for lists of artists on the catalogs to be played in the pub. He also asked the labels to contact touring bands who needed a room to play in.

“We quickly became a haven for traveling bands and established ourselves as one of the premier original music clubs in the state,” Koch said.

‘Friendly and gregarious charm’

The idea for the Bullfrog began as an idea after Koch started home-brewing beer with Charlie Schnable, of Otto’s Brewery in State College.

“Charlie and I, along with his mother Barbara Whipple and my family, including my sister Margie, mother Harriet and father Robert, were the formative team and all played instrumental roles in pulling off the creation of the Bullfrog Brewery,” Koch said.

Koch’s wife, Alicia Koch, was among the original employees, who would end up taking partial ownership and helping to run the business.

Steven and Alicia have four sons — Birch, Sage, Indigo and Cypress. “They have all helped in their own ways to make the brewery what it is today,” Koch said.

The name for the brewery is an idea that Koch and Schnable liked immediately.

“We liked that the animals are indigenous and ended up embracing the name,” Koch said. “Frogs are typically portrayed anthropomorphically as possessing a friendly and gregarious charm and seemed to represent the characteristics of the all-inviting, inclusive pub we were setting out to build.”

Blessing in disguise

The anniversary is a chance for many to look back and remember the early days of uncertainty and change.

Koch said the Bullfrog wasn’t initially planned as a downtown Williamsport business.

The original location was going to be in Koch’s hometown on Main Street, in Hughesville. A petition passed around at local church services by the East Lycoming Ministerium changed their plans.

“We were run out of town,” Koch said. “I feel it was an unfortunate case of ignorance and unfounded, exaggerated concern.”

Looking back, Koch views it as a blessing in disguise.

“The population and potential customer base was much larger and ultimately more inviting in the City of Williamsport.”

Koch’s mother, Harriet Koch, walked into what was then Uncle Wally’s Antiques and asked if the building was for sale. “Turns out, it was,” Koch said. “That’s when the real work began.”

It was a challenge navigating the complicated nuances of codes and new state Liquor Control Board laws concerning the microbrewery and brewpub industry, which was relatively new at the time, Koch said.

“Luckily, we encountered people from every agency that were willing to listen to our ideas,” Koch said. “They were the ones who helped us smooth out the many intricate processes.”

Proud of it all

Over the years, the pub has adapted to the statewide indoor smoking ban, changes in the blood alcohol limit, and a changing competitive market.

“When we opened our doors in 1996, we were the only brewery within a 100-mile radius,” Koch said. “Today there are nearly 120 in that same circle.”

Most of the things the brewery is proud of are related to the community, which may be a testament to why they’ve been downtown for so long.

“Our development of a local food network, our rooftop gardening projects and the support of nonprofits are some things we are all very proud of,” Koch said.

The brewery has been a foundational supporter of the arts and spearheaded the mural project that many residents have come to associate with downtown.

Many bands hosted at the brewery over the years have seen growth, even nationally. Several bottle-aged sour beers are celebrated nationally and internationally. The Bullfrog holds many awards for beers and food and has recently been named as having the highest rated beer in the state with a special title attached: “the coolest brewery in the state,” Koch said.

The brewery will soon be featured in a book targeted at a European audience naming it as one of the 50 breweries the authors consider hidden treasures in the country.

Saturday’s event is an opportunity to look back at all of this, but also to plan for the future.

“We hope to keep doing what we do and be the eating and drinking establishment that our community has always relied upon,” Koch said.