26th Annual Blues Festival Kicks Off

DULUTH- Traditions like these run deep at Bayfront Park, where 20,000 people will enjoy the largest outdoor music fest in the upper Midwest.Tanya Goalen has been coming to the Bayfront Blues Festival for 20 years. Goalen said, "We started with the bare pink flamingo and we've embellished him year after year, after year."From the signature flags used to find your seat, to the hats decorated to find your friends, everything about Blues Fest is extraordinary.Musician Mark Cameron said, "The experience they provide for the people that come at this festival is just different. It's friendlier the atmosphere obviously can't be duplicated anywhere else."Everyone has their own festival favorit.  Christine Witt said, "The food and the drinks and the friends, everything."Goalen said, "Music, the music. "Scott Benick said, "People watching."Christina Hoglund said, "Seeing new people, seeing old friends, everybody's so friendly."However, it's that funky beat and those soulful hooks that keep folks coming back year after year.Witt said, "If you love blues music, it just gets to you, it comes from the soul."Blues Fest isn't just a fan favorite, it's the event of the year for many musicians.Cameron said, "This is as good as it gets in the blues, Bayfront is as good as it gets in the blues."They say the audience here in Duluth is like none other.Cameron said, "The people that come aren't just anybody, they're here for the blues, they get it. They're as experienced as the musicians are and it's an interaction. It's not just a performance by us it's kind of like the audience and the band perform together."Plus, it's a chance to re–unite with some long lost family.Cameron said, "So we have friends that we play with at other festivals and we all get together in January and say 'hey, you playing Bayfront? Yup, we're going to be there. Ok let's hang out, a lot of fun."While thousands people are expected, the crowd at Blues Fest is so mellow, you may just make thousands of new friends.Benick said, "I see a nice crowd of happy people, you know just happy, nice pleasant."So if you're looking for a way to kick back, tickets are still available and Blues Fest runs from now until Sunday.