After not knowing what to expect the first year out, Rich Carey, one of the event organizers who originally proposed the idea for the festival, was more than pleased with the result.
“It was just a great, eclectic weekend from start to finish,” Carey said. “We were hoping for a couple of thousand people, especially considering the rain on Saturday. If crowd response and Kiwanis members are any indication, this was the first of what should be annual.”
Springfield native Todd Stoll, who works for the Jazz at Lincoln Center education program in New York, helped sign the artists, including headliners John Pizzarelli, one of the biggest names in the jazz world, and Samara Joy.
Stoll helped spark an interest in jazz locally, bringing a holiday jazz show to Springfield in 2017 and 2018 and forming the Springfield Symphony Jazz Orchestra in 2019. Kevin Loftis of Mother Stewart’s Brewing Company has also hosted regular jazz concerts in recent years, including several of the artists who performed at the festival.
“The response was beyond what I expected,” said Stoll. “The music had to be connected to the community and I think we outdid ourselves with three generations of performers interpreting the music in their own ways.”
He said the artists were also pleased. Jazz performer Bobby Floyd, who has played with the Count Basie Orchestra and based in Columbus, told Stoll the show was a great thing for the region, which needs more shows like this, and Sean Jones of the Bobby Floyd Trio complimented the community feeling. Bluesman Marquise Knox hung around Mother Stewart’s for several hours following his set, taking in the local flavor.
“The community had such a good feel this weekend,” said Stoll. “You had delta blues, smooth jazz, a range of music. Any time you can get a generation apart it really says something. Pizzarelli is 62 and Samara Joy is 22.”
Mother Stewart’s had one of its most successful weekends yet during the festival. Already involved with several area events, Loftis hopes this will lead to even more.
“We need more events to activate the Commons, including medium and smaller events. Obviously, we’re happy to support, sponsor or host more events of that nature,” he said.
Another satisfying factor was the audience makeup, which Carey and Stoll found was intergenerational and diverse, all backgrounds and ages, not only from this area but outside it, including one couple checking in from St. Louis.
“That’s our goal, to bring in people not just from Springfield but from all over the Midwest. It struck me it was as it should be,” said Carey.
Carey was grateful for the various sponsors, praised them as good community-minded citizens, and was glad of how it reflected on Kiwanis.
“Kiwanis is a name people don’t hear often these days and hopefully this will put it back on the map in terms of conversation,” he said. “The group helps children and it’s a win for Kiwanis, for Springfield and the people of Springfield. It was a lot of work, but sure worth it.”
The next move is to get together for a briefing on the first event and go right into planning the second annual festival. Carey said the plan is to keep it right in the mid-August timeframe, while Stoll would like to see more community entities involved.
The Springfield Rotary Gourmet Food Truck Competition, which was held for the eighth time on Saturday, also drew a large crowd. Both events over the weekend brought visitors here and raised the community’s profile.
Carey said it’s a matter of being able to schedule artists, whose talents are in demand at various festivals across the country.
He goes back to a lady he met as his sign of the event’s success. She went on for about five minutes how much the festival meant two her, with tears of joy in her eyes.
“It was just an awesome sight to look down from the back of the park and see the lighted stage and proud of the diversity as we have a diverse community and I just kept thinking this is awesome over and over,” he said.
MORE ONLINE
Check out our photo gallery of this event at springfieldnewssun.com.
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