Steeples & Stacks: the weekend in review
Main, North and Locust Streets filled with artists, glassblowers, historians and neighbors for Butler’s inaugural heritage weekend, inspired by Ben Hughes’s photograph of the city’s skyline of spires and smokestacks.
What an incredible weekend.
Thank you to everyone who helped make Steeples & Stacks Heritage Weekend such a success. From live music and historic tours to art, film, exhibits, and community celebrations, the weekend showcased the rich history and vibrant spirit of Butler.
Thank you to our sponsors, volunteers, performers, partners, and everyone who joined us. Your support made this celebration possible.
Stay tuned for photos and highlights from the weekend, and keep an eye out for details about our second annual Steeples & Stacks Heritage Weekend. We can’t wait to celebrate with you again!
The photo behind the name
Steeples & Stacks traces back to a single photograph: a panoramic shot of the Butler skyline, taken by local hobbyist photographer Ben Hughes, capturing the courthouse clock tower alongside the city’s church spires.
The image won a people’s choice award in a 2022 banner contest for the Cultural District’s first public event. Four years later, it became the spark for an entire heritage weekend celebrating Butler’s faith, industry, and culture.
“It’s bigger than himself now,” Hughes said of the photo. “It belongs to the people who got enough out of it to build something around it.”
In the news
A sample of the coverage Steeples & Stacks received.
Steeples & Stacks welcomes history
Historian Bill May closed out the first night with a packed talk on Butler’s past, capping a Dinner for 250 that organizers moved indoors when weather threatened North Street.
Read the article ↗Volunteers assemble glass mosaic for Penn Theater
Over both festival days, volunteers glued glass onto a five-panel mosaic designed by artist Carrie Ann Strope, a lasting installation for the side of the historic theater.
Read the article ↗Inspire others with your art
An editorial reflects on how the weekend traced back to a single panoramic photo by hobbyist Ben Hughes, and what it means for a piece of art to belong to a whole city.
Read the article ↗A brand-new tradition is taking root in Butler County
A television segment covering the festival as a celebration of art, culture and hometown pride in downtown Butler.
Watch the segment ↗The weekend in pictures
Enjoy more photos of the weekend from Ben Hughes.
Thank you to our sponsors
Steeples & Stacks happened because these organizations believed in it first.
