Garden of Life: Jazz and Blues

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Jazz and Blues

About a month ago, I saw an advertisement in our local paper about a Blues and Jazz festival that was coming to a town close to ours and that was headlining a musician that we have seen before in concert and really enjoy. The festival was a daylong event , to be held outside at a big park featuring many musicians, and the tickets were only $5!! We put the date on the calendar and were looking forward to spending a day outside listening to some great music.

Saturday the weather here in Minnesota turned hot and steamy and an ‘Excessive Heat Warning’ was issued from noon on Saturday until Wednesday evening. And Saturday also happened to be the day of the Prior Lake Jazz and Blues Festival. The high temps were to be in the 90’s with dew points in the 70’s and heat indexes in the 100’s. It was going to be hot but we decided we were going to go and just be very careful to drink enough water and really once we got there we were going to be just sitting-nothing too taxing. :)

We were so glad that we went! It was such a fun day and yes it was hot, but it wasn’t horrible.

We arrived around 4pm just in time to see a local musician, Tim Mahoney. I had never heard him play live before and was excited to see his performance. He didn't disappoint!

He was selling and signing a $5 CD after his act and so I had to get one. :)

The crowd was awesome. Everyone was so laid back and so nice; and as the day went on the crowd kept on getting bigger and bigger.

Next up was another local favorite, Lamont Cranston and Bruce McCabe.

Walking around between the live music was a bit of a challenge as it had rained several inches the night before left the field quite wet, which quickly turned to mud with so many people walking on it. (My favorite sandals are ruined, but it was worth it. :)