AUTHOR’S NOTE: This festival has changed locations and – most likely – it’s format. Therefore, please go to the main site and check festival information.
This post documents my experience on February 5, 2011.
As you may have noticed from my posts and festival schedule, I’m not a big frequenter of music festivals. This is mostly because they’re expensive and hard to cover (visually). Also, because of the changing bands year-to-year, the festival may be wonderful one year and horrible the next. So I try to stick with festivals where I can casually walk in, check things out, casually walk out, and be fairly sure my account of the festival will still ring true the following year.
Hopefully, that’s the case with the Winter Blues Festival…
…right in downtown Findlay.
Part of the reason I decided to come to Findlay’s festival was because I went to college here so many years ago. I got to see some friends, see the old sites, and check out a festival all at the same time.
Besides, admission wasn’t so expensive ($5) and it benefited the Hancock County Center for Safe and Healthy Children, so I got to feel good in the process.
The festival grounds consisted of a double tent…
…with port-o-potties, ice carving and smoking allowed on the side.
Most people, though, stayed bundled up inside…
…and usually around one of these!
There are two things worth mentioning about the Winter Blues Fest that particularly caught my eye. The first was the jambalaya…
…which the woman at the table was gracious enough to let me get a shot of.
And then there were the $5 ice mugs…
…which really looked beautiful when filled with beer.
I honestly don’t know how people held onto them, but I didn’t find any broken beer mugs at my feet, so thank goodness for that.
Beyond the food and beer, most people came together for the music…
…and, at first, it looked so far away.
But, after a while, I snuck around for better shot and found a pocket on the side of the tent and stage…
…where these fans were dancing away.
They were having such a fun time listening to Josh Garrett and the Bottomline (from Louisiana), that I thought you might enjoy a snippet yourself.