This year will be the third time the Sautee Jamboree welcomes the first crisp days of fall to the Sautee Nacoochee Center.

The two-day outdoor music festival, set for Friday and Saturday, showcases local and national acts that range from the bluegrass sounds of Blueground Undergrass to the "funky rhythm-and-blues" of Sol Driven Train.

Terri Edgar, the arts program director at the Sautee Nacoochee Center, said the Jamboree, free for children 12 and younger, is a great event for families.

Saturday morning will feature an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, so kids can fill up on pancakes and burn off the energy dancing to Sol Driven Train at the 11 a.m. children's show.

"They're magical," Edgar said. "They totally understand children, and have them rocking and rolling and dancing and playing."

Edgar said more than 400 people attended last year's jamboree, and she expects many to set up tents to camp on Friday night.

Attendees can snack on barbecue chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers and even red beans and rice as they take in the eclectic music.

Edgar said attendees also can explore the rest of the Sautee Nacoochee Center campus.

"The campus is so much fun just to be on," she said. "You can be going in and out of our art gallery. If you have a wrist band for the show, you get in the folk pottery museum for free. There are a lot of things to do on the campus, but basically this is about incredible music."

The Sautee Jamboree will mark the farewell performance of Big City Sunrise, a local band with roots in Sautee.

"You know how bands do," Edgar said. "They're all kind of getting married and having babies and real life. It's very hard to be a band touring when you have families on the way."

Edgar said proceeds from the event will benefit the restoration of several buildings on the Sautee Nacoochee Center campus.