Get ready to party like it’s Mardi Gras at Touchstone Theatre’s concert fundraiser, “Jakopa’s Punch Bowl,” 7 p.m. Feb. 18, Charles A. Brown IceHouse, 56 River St., Sand Island, Bethlehem.

The event features Touchstone’s newly-formed band, Jakopa’s Punch. They will be joined on the bill by The Bastard Sons of Burt Sugarman and the The Charts Funk Band, from the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts.

Jambalaya, king cake and other New Orleans-style dishes will be served. Wine, beer and food is included in the ticket price.

Touchstone artistic director and Jakopa’s Punch founder James P. Jordan says that the band name comes from his niece’s creative guess for what his initials, J.P., stood for. Jakopa’s Punch is genre-defying and includes an array of instruments from accordion to trombone to theremin.

“I want it to be its own thing. At Touchstone, we’re a professional ensemble theater company. For me, that means that whatever is in the room is going to flavor the outcome. [It’s] looking for that new sound. It’s always going, ‘Let’s not chase something that already exists.’

“If we stylistically find a moment where we’re, like, ‘Let’s pull this in,’ like a carnival dirge or something like that, then that’s what we’ll do. But we’ll find our way there from the collective and not from an imposition of form.”

The Jakopa’s Punch Bowl concert will feature an eclectic set list.

“We re-imagined some songs. I asked each band member to propose a song and so we took those songs and we covered them our way.” Jordan says.

“We do have some ‘theater-esque’ songs in there: ‘One Night in Bangkok,’ ‘Mamma Mia,’ but they’re standing next to Elton John’s ‘Levon’ to ‘The Sugar Shack’ to ‘Tears of A Clown,’ ‘The Time Warp’ ... lots of crazy songs.”

The event is a fundraiser for and preview of Touchstone’s upcoming project, “The Jakopa’s Punch Processional.”

“I wanted to come from a point of music to work on [‘The Jakopa’s Punch Processional’].

“[It’s] shaping up to be about a three-block long processional on the South Side of Bethlehem along the Greenway. It’ll debut as part of the ‘Cirque It’ Festival, which Lehigh University, Touchstone and Artsquest are teaming up to work on over the weekend of July 14.

“This is much less fund-able from an institutional end than saying, ‘We’re going to tackle the cause of “X.”’ All of the funds raised from [‘Jakopa’s Punch Bowl’] will go directly to funding that event. And so [‘The Jakopa’s Punch Processional’] will be a large, free to the public outdoor thing,” Jordan says.

“I want people singing and dancing in the streets together. I think that the way humans find common ground is through joy. I want to create joy in the streets and I want to bring people out into that.”

“Jakopa’s Processional” will feature two traveling floats with band members occupying one and hand- and rod-puppets on the other.

“The band will be dressed in costume the same as the puppets. There will be the tri-relationship that the puppet characters are versions of the band. There will also be large-headed street puppets, as well. So, there’ll be three versions of the same character.” says Jordan.

Regarding the fundraising concert and “Jakopa’s Processional,” Jordan hopes those attending will have a great time. “It’s the carnival season, so come out and celebrate with us.”

Tickets: at the door; touchstone.org, 610-867-1689

To submit press releases for consideration in the Good Cause column and request coverage of fundraisers and galas, email Paul Willistein, Focus features editor: pwillistein@tnonline.com