Sunday is the anniversary of the late Bob Marley’s birthday.

If he hadn’t died in 1981, the reggae icon would now be 67.

To celebrate, the Star Bar will hold a birthday party on Saturday for Marley and feature headliners Natural Roots and guest opener Patwa Reggae Band.

Natural Roots hand-picked the Park City-based Patwa to be a part of the party.

“It’s great being a part of this, said Patwa bassist Colin Higgins. “Natural Roots has been incredible to us.

“Also, we all wouldn’t be in a reggae band if it weren’t for Bob Marley,” he said. “We all were inspired in some way by him.”

Still, that doesn’t mean the night will be filled with only Marley covers.

“We’ll play some of our originals, and Natural Roots will, too,” said Patwa guitarist Zach Thomas.

Higgins and Thomas have known each other and been playing music together since their college days in Vermont.

“We took ski-resort management,” Thomas said. “I got an internship at Snowbird and eventually worked at a ski shop and had to move to Park City to manage it.”

In the meantime, Higgins moved to Park City.

“Zach taught me how to play the guitar in college,” Higgins said. “When I was at college, experiencing dorm-room life, he was the one who had a guitar and it was the coolest thing in the world. Five years after getting my own guitar, I switched to bass.”

Vocalist Errol Grant, who was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, found his way to Park City thanks to his wife, who took on a housekeeping job.

“My wife was working for this lady who had a winter home in Park City,” Grant said. “I couldn’t live without (my wife). Love can make you do crazy things.

“I heard of Utah, but when I pictured it, I saw cold and thought it was like Alaska,” Grant said. “So when I finally came, in the winter and I took a little walk and I looked around and said, ‘I can live here.'”

Thomas and Higgins were in another band when they met Grant.

“We were playing white-boy reggae at the Star Bar and we pulled Errol up on stage and that was the start of it all,” Higgins said.

Keyboardist Swainson Holness, Grant’s nephew, moved to Park City from Britain, to be with his uncle.

“I was finishing up my studies and I was thinking of going back to school, but I also wanted to explore,” Holness said. “The idea of Utah came up because my family was getting a deal on a house.

“At first, I heard that (Utah) was all Mormon, and I didn’t know if I wanted to move out here,” he said. “But I realized that I would never get a chance to explore and after a few weeks of moving here, I was invited to a jam. I really liked reggae, but not been able to nail it down. So I went and jammed with them and it all came together.”

The four found a common thread with reggae, and thanks to Grant’s coaching, began finding their groove through an array of island jams.

“I was a always shoving the music down Zach’s throat because I knew he could do it,” Grant said with a laugh.

The band dubbed itself Patwa, the name of a Jamaican dialect, and began playing any place they could. While the early days weren’t simple for the four, and when they weren’t playing in front of people, they were playing for themselves.

“I have videos of us playing in Swainson’s bedroom on acoustic guitars, just for the sole purpose of us keeping at it,” Higgins said. “It worked because even through those slow times, we all progressed together.”

Drummer Jarryd Wark, the only band member with a formal education in music – he went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston – was the last piece of the puzzle. Last May, the band visited his house and started jamming.

“I said I was a drummer and it went from there,” Wark said.

These days it’s not a surprise to see the band playing in the many different night spots around Utah. Not only has it played in Salt Lake City, but it is booking shows in Moab and as far south as St. George.

Still, Park City has been very good to Patwa.

“This area is very welcoming to reggae music,” Wark said. “Everybody has that laid-back attitude and they like to escape to that warm sound in the middle of winter.”

“In a tourist town, reggae fits,” Higgins said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s warm or cold.”

“Happy Birthday Bob Marley,” featuring Natural Roots and Patwa, will crank out the jams at the Star Bar, 268 Main Street, on Saturday, Feb. 5, at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5 in advance and $10 the day of the show and available at SmithsTix by calling (801) 467-8499 or (800) 888-8499. They can also be purchased by visiting www.smithstix.com.