For the first time in eight years, rain fell on the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival.
Fortunately, it held off long enough on Saturday for three splendid sets– from the U.S. Air Force Rhythm in Blue ensemble, Bria Skonberg and LaBamba & The Hubcaps.
Unfortunately, the skies opened up just as LaBamba was finishing. The Bernard Allison Group and Davy Knowles were waiting for their turn… but they’ll have to wait ’till next year.
“We always put safety first,” said Mayor Tim Dougherty, noting the stage was wet, and that most of the crowd had dispersed.
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin. Click/hover for captions:
Knowles had driven all day, in rain, from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, just in time for the deluge on the historic Morristown Green. The weather reminded Knowles of his native Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea.
“This is the height of the summer” back home, the bluesman joked.
The Mayor said organizers Don and Linda Smith could not book the Green for Sunday, as a rain date, because most of the performers have tight schedules.
“We would have waited in the rain,” said Diane Kramek, who drove 450 miles from Canton, Ohio, with her husband Ken to see Allison and Knowles. They said they really enjoyed Skonberg, and will consider returning to Morristown in 2019.
“They said Bernard’s going to be here, so hopefully, yeah,” Diane Kramek said.
Allison, who’s been around festivals since he was knee-high to his father, the famed guitarist Luther Allison, said he’s gung-ho to give it another try.
“Hey, you can’t control Mother Nature,” he said, between greetings from die-hard fans huddled under umbrellas.
“This is an awesome festival, believe me… I have to come back and give these guys the Allison treatment, because they treated me and my fellows very well. The bands I heard were amazing. The bands that were going to come on are amazing. This ain’t the end. Come back next year!”
Check out video clips on our Facebook page, and come back here this weekend for more photos and videos.
Morristown Green coverage of the 2018 Morristown Jazz & Blues Fest
