The fourth annual “Lehigh Valley Jazz and Arts Festival” is a great and affordable way for families and individuals to find out about regional jazz.

Along with four bands and a student performance and jam session, there will be arts and crafts for adults and children; vendors for books, lava lamps and art; community groups, slide shows, raffles and free giveaways; beverages, and New Orleans-style food.

The festival is from 12:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. July 18, Charles A. Brown Ice House, Bethlehem. A suggested donation is asked.

You can listen all day or just drop in.

The schedule includes: Nancy and Spencer Reed Trio, 12:30 p.m.; The Stank Factory, 1:45 p.m.; Art Bailey Quintet, 3 p.m.; Lehigh Valley Student Jazz Performers and Jam, 4:15 p.m., and Fusion Jazz Trio, 6 p.m.

Dan Wilkins will be playing saxophone with the Art Bailey Quintet.

“There will be a broad spectrum of music in a variety of styles,” Wilkins says.

“The first two groups have vocals. Nancy and Spencer Reed have been playing together for 40 years.

“The Stank Factory combines R&B jazz funk and New Orleans music.

“The Art Bailey Quintet does bebop, post bop and avant-garde.

“The Fusion Jazz Trio merges jazz and rock.

“The Student Jazz Performers include two groups from the Moravian University Music Institute and musicians from the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts.

“The jam is for all ages and open to any students who want to be involved,” says Wilkins.

The Reeds emphasize melodic harmonies over insistent rhythms.

The Stank Factory, named for an odoriferous water treatment plant near their rehearsal space, is a high-energy group that might be called a party band as well as a jazz combo.

The Bailey Quintet plays original and other compositions with a sound that is modern but rooted in the jazz mainstream.

The Fusion Jazz Trio, formed in 2002, has an electric, muscular sound influenced by funk.

The festival began as a collaboration with Lehigh University’s NeuroSalon, with Julie Miwa as its mentor.

Miwa describes NeuroSalon as “a project that encourages healing and wellness and mental and spiritual health. It is about using art to discover things about the brain.”

There will be a “brain talk” that describes NeuroSalon’s concepts about cognition and art.

Neurosalon, a sponsor of the festival, will have an art exhibition of works that are inspired by neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to learn from new information and experiences.

Says Miwa: “NeuroSalon and the festival celebrate creativity with the spontaneous creation of music.”

The festival will have many ways for children and adults to explore their creativity.

There will be an art therapy session and a workshop for people to create their own paintings, henna art, face-painting, and crafts that include origami and coloring books.

The festival is one of a number of jazz concerts presented by the IceHouse Jazz Collective that include musicians who will appear at the festival.

Fourth annual “Lehigh Valley Jazz and Arts Festival,” 12:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. July 18, Charles A. Brown Ice House, 56 River St., Sand Island, Bethlehem. The suggested donation is $10. Information: https://icehouse-arts.org/