Blues Festivals in the Mountians
I attended the Utah Blues Festival in Salt Lake City the second weekend in June and Blues From the Top in Winter Park, CO, a week ago (27th-28th). Both were nice. Utah Blues Festival was pretty small by festival standards, with about 700-1000 attendees. It was in a park surrounded by a Marriott hotel and office buildings, and had a fair number of shade trees; temps started around 70 with highs around 85. The lineup was very good for a small and inexpensive festival. Blues From the Top was in the small mountain city of Winter Park with very nice mountain views; the venue was very nice (like a natural amphitheater with a very nice stage), and I’m guessing there were about 3,000+ on Saturday; it had a smaller crowd by about a third on Sunday; very good lineup both days. Friday was more Americana (Wood Brothers and Marc Broussard). Temps started around 50 and got into the low to mid 70s (beautiful!) For those who love mountain scenery, you can take a gondola up toward the top of the ski mountain and hike and/or mountain bike. I recommend both fests.