Highland tunes up for a party in the park
We’re back with your favorite party in the park,” said Highland Jazz and Blues Festival board member and organizer Emerie Eck Gentry. The 18th annual Highland Jazz and Blues Festival presented by Louisiana Healthcare Connections is tuning up to entertain on Saturday, Sept. 17, in Columbia Park. Ten bands will play on two stages from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and it’s free thanks to the Highland Area Partnership.
Joining the musicians will be over 70 food and art vendors, as well as demonstrations and attractions featuring locally produced goods, food, art, jewelry, candles and other items. The Clash of the Artists returns this year with four local artists competing to create a festivalthemed painting at the site in two hours.
The Red River Revel sponsors the competition, and the winner will get the chance to work with the festival team to create the official poster for next year’s event. The public selected the participants through a vote on social media. This year’s brushwielding contestants are Erica Garcia, Amy McDonald, Dominique OGD McLemore and Alex Richardson.
The competitors have instructions that their work must include Jazzy, the festival bluebird mascot. Gentry explained that their task would also be to show “how music brings the community together.” A panel of jurists will judge the works.
Marcia O. Millican, ACPA, will sponsor the Children’s Area hosting multiple activities throughout the afternoon. Raising Canes Chicken is supporting a des ignated pet area so the family fur babies will have their special place, sponsored by Robinson’s Rescue and featuring petfriendly products and services.
“We have local non-profits who will be there, like Shreve Pride, the Prize Fest, CASA and Shreve Memorial Library,” Gentry said.
According to Gentry, one of the most important aspects of the day is the free shuttle service provided by AEP/SWEP- CO. Two buses will run the route from Centenary’s Gold Dome parking lot to the festival site beginning 30 minutes before the festival and ending 30 minutes after it closes.
The musical entertainment is broad and deep this year while remaining true to the jazz and blues motif, according to Gentry and “hopefully introducing the community to the sounds of some of our old favorites and some new bands as well.”
One of those new bands comes from just across the street from the festival site. “We just added the Creswell Elementary Bucket Drum Team,” Gentry said. “We’re excited to bring the kids on over; the school is right across the street from the park. So, how cool is it for the kids to get their musical start there? That team is newly formed and is made up of 27 students.”
The drum team was formed just this year, and this appearance will be among the first of many events in the school’s 100th anniversary year next year. That works out perfectly for the festival organizers. “Our board of directors has been talking about adding a musical education component to the festival,” according to Gentry. “Hopefully, in the future, we will be able to expand on it and offer a scholarship, but we want to be able to highlight more student talent.”
According to Gentry, musical talents are what this festival is all about, and they are excited about the line-up for this year’s edition. On hand will be musicians from all over this area and beyond. Local celebrity and Grammy-nominated vocalist/gui tarist Buddy Flett will kick the festival off on the Pavilion Stage. Other groups and acts include The Blues Trippers, Heavy is the Head, Everett Street Jazz, the Creswell Elementary Bucket Drum Team, Big D’s Blues Band, Dirty Redd Band and Maggie Belle.
Festival goers will also have the chance to parade through the winding environs of the Highland neighborhood’s historic Columbia Park with the Shreveport Second Line Brass Band for a little New Orleans flavor. Who says only Cajuns have fun?
This year’s headliner is Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, an American blues, funk and soul artist. Gentry said Lewis had been influenced by Howlin’ Wolf and James Brown from Austin, Texas, which will bring a little SXSW tang to the event.
Started in 2003, the Highland Jazz and Blues Festival has grown from a handful of bands and a crowd of 500-1,000 to a full-blown event including two stages, nine bands, posters, T-shirts, food and art sales, and 10,000 music fans in beautiful Columbia Park. The annual festival is a gift to the community from the Highland Area Partnership doing business as the High land Jazz & Blues Festival. Proceeds from the poster, T-shirt, beverage sales, donations and sponsorships are used to bring the festival back each year.
“It is so important to our board that we keep music alive in Highland,” Gentry explained, “to keep the festival at Columbia Park and to keep the festival free. Our main mission is to offer this free festival. We’ve managed to remain free for the past 17 years. Our sales receipts go right back into the festival so we can continue to make it free every year.”
For more information, go to www.highlandjazzandblues.org. and, as Gentry said, “Come buy some beer, buy some food, buy a T-shirt and support the music in our community.”
Pavilion Stage
11 a.m. – Buddy Flett
12:15 p.m. – The Blues Trippers
1:30 p.m. – Everett Street Jazz
3 p.m. – Maggie Belle
4:30 p.m. – Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
BOM Gazebo Stage
11 a.m. - Creswell Elementary Bucket Drum Team
11:30 a.m. – Heavy is the Head
1 p.m. – Big D’s Blues Band
2:30 p.m. – Dirty Redd Band
3:30 p.m. – Shreveport Second Line Brass Band
