The upcoming Rollin’ on the River Blues Festival will not be at its usual locale.
The festival has been held outside at Victory Park along the Mississippi River in Keokuk for the past 34 years.
But this year, the live entertainment will be moved indoors to the Grand Theatre, 26 N. Sixth St. in Keokuk.
The change is due to declining fundraising and the number of volunteers, said event organizer Randy Fish.
“It's always been down at the river. It was a two-night event, Friday and Saturday, but over time we've been, for various reasons, sponsorships and that kind of stuff, we've been running a little shy of funding and volunteers to pull this thing off,” Fish said.
“It takes a lot of work to set it up, as you might imagine, down by the river.”
For the 35th Rollin’ on the River, three bands will be performing for one night only, on Aug. 19:
- The Matt Roberts Blues Band at 5 p.m.
- John Nemeth at 7 p.m.
- Shawn Holt at 9 p.m.
Fish said the new indoor venue will make the event affordable for organizers this year.
“It was a compromise and none of us wanted to do it,” Fish said. “We took a little heat for it, but you could either do this or nothing. So, we decided to give this a shot.”
Tickets are $20 in advance or at the gate and $10 for those 18 and younger.
Food and beverages will be sold outside along Sixth Street at Lucky’s Irish Pub & Grub, located across the street from the theater.
The annual blues festival has attracted notable blues musicians to Keokuk over the years. Fish recalls past performances from Catfish Keith, Jason D. Williams, Sally Weisenburg, Joanna Conner, Lonnie Brooks, Popa Chubby, Studebaker John and former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor.
“Taylor was a very good technical guitar player,” he said.
“Popa Chubby was very, very good. We caught him coming out of Europe one year and he dragged people out down from the Quad Cities and beyond. He did a rendition of ‘Over the Rainbow’ that had everybody listening so closely we could have heard a pin drop when he did that. He's a masterful guitar player, probably one of the best guitar players I've heard.”
He said Studebaker John out of Chicago also gave a standout performance.
Fish is looking forward to how well festival goers will respond to this year’s acts and the new venue.
“Who knows?” Down the road, if we get a good crowd and things turn around, they could take it back down to the river again,” he said.
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