2016 3rd Annual Lowertown Blues Festival

The Wrap Up - The 3rd Annual Lowertown Blues & Funk Fest is wrapped up, and Mears Park is quiet once again. The staff here at the Fest are tired and sore, but already looking forward to next year. Despite the glitches and weather, we had a great expanded two-day event this year, and are proud of our diverse crowd of music lovers who embrace this part of Lowertown we call home. Young and old, black or white, rich or poor, we feel that blues & funk together has been a winning combination, and we hope to continue that tradition for years to come.

We have a lot of people to thank: from the volunteers & workers who worked behind the scenes, to the people at Summit Beer who poured our beer, and to Famous Dave’s BBQ for the best food on the planet. Others involved included the ticket vendors, the info booth staff, the Minnesota Blues Society, Goorin Brothers Hats, Chopstix, Sal’s Place, Adam’s Gyros, Coolhaus Ice Cream, White Bear Mitsubishi, Maharaja’s, Cosmopolitan Apartments, Metro Transit for the Free Rides and especially the St. Paul Police and Fire and Paramedics Departments. We cannot run this festival without the great support of Western Bank (John Bennett), The River Rose Fund, The Lowertown Line at Twin Cities Public Television, Mayor Chris Coleman, all of our financial backers, sponsors, and most of all you, the music lover who shows up to support the blues! Our event will always be FREE, it only exists with your help and financial support!

Special thanks to The Good, the Bad and the Funky, along with Otis Day and The Knights for starting off our Fest. We realize that our event ran into a technical glitch on Friday resulting in a short set for The Family Stone. We apologize to our loyal blues fans and to The Family Stone for this delay, caused by equipment damaged by the excessive heat.

Saturday started off with a live WCCO TV performance by Jon and Kimberly from the Brother Jon Band. They were fantastic! A brief rain shower didn't stop the music or the blues fans from showing up. Thanks to Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, The Butanes, and to Corey Stevens for playing in between the raindrops, and wasn’t Bernard Allison smokin! Booker T Jones was a perfect way to end the fest, including his excellent version of Prince’s “Purple Rain”. A class act! Our Juke Joint stage was upgraded this year by two stunning performances from Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown. also Joel Zoss, Florida’s favorite blues man, and other local musicians who kept us jammin’ right along. Ray Richardson and Mick Sterling handled their emcee duties perfectly!

We want to continue this fest, and will be working hard to improve it even more next year. Thank you for respecting our beautiful Mears Park and treating it well; we want it to be here for many generations of music lovers to come!

The Lowertown Blues & Funk Fest