News Release

20 years of blues, community and fighting hunger 

2007 festival raises funds to help fight hunger

News Release

2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival raises funds to help fight hunger

PORTLAND, Ore. – Stellar musicians, enthusiastic volunteers, committed sponsors and thousands of blues fans helped make the 20th annual Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, presented by First Tech Credit Union, a rousing success, according to Rachel Bristol, CEO of Oregon Food Bank.

Blues fans donated $510,000 and 97,343 pounds of food at the gate, making it the second highest year for gate donations in the festival’s 20-year history. The Oregon Potters Association raised an additional $12,583 for Oregon Food Bank at its Empty Bowls booth. 

The annual Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is Oregon Food Bank’s largest fund-raiser. One-hundred percent of donations at the gate directly support Oregon Food Bank’s work to eliminate hunger and its root causes ... because no one should be hungry.

Since its modest beginnings in 1988, the award-winning festival has grown to be the largest blues festival west of the Mississippi, attracting blues fans from throughout the world.

“We owe the festival’s huge success to the support of our community – from our generous sponsors – to more than 1,500 volunteers who keep the festival running smoothly – to the creative members of Oregon Potters Association who fill the shelves of their booth with beautiful Empty Bowls to raise funds to benefit Oregon Food Bank – to festival-goers who donated $8 and two cans of food at the gate,” Bristol said.

Blues fans raved about this year’s year’s stellar lineup, which featured 139 performances, including The  Neville Brothers, presented by First Tech Credit Union; Koko Taylor, presented by DaimlerChrysler Truck Financial; Mavis Staples, presented by FedEx Freight; Marcia Ball, presented by iQ Credit Union; Pinetop Perkins, presented by Karolyn H. March, Attorney at Law; Watermelon Slim and the Workers, presented by Good Neighbor Pharmacy; Joan Armatrading; The Blind Boys of Alabama; James Cotton Band with special guest Hubert Sumlin; The Dirty Dozen Brass Band; Eric Burdon and the Animals; Voice of the Westlands Allstars (Tab Benoit, Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux); Savoy Brown; Lurrie Bell; Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks; and so much more.

Special features to celebrate the festival’s 20th anniversary included a rainbow display, presented by PacificSource Health Plans; “Frozen Carrots,” a musical for children, presented by Northwest Natural; an on-site U.S. Post Office canceling mail with a postmark honoring the festival 20-year history; banners celebrating musicians who have performed at past festivals; winged awnings and a new look to the A&E Front Porch Stage; and, of course, fireworks, presented by DaimlerChrysler Truck Financial.

This year, the blues festival added more green to its palette. The 2007 festival may be the first blues festival in the world to go carbon neutral with its production, power consumption and artist travel, according to Peter Dammann, festival talent coordinator. 

Land Rover Portland, a major sponsor of the 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, will offset 100 percent of the carbon dioxide produced by the air and road transportation of all musicians traveling to Portland to perform at the festival – an estimated 300,000 air miles and 82,000 road miles of travel, equating to 124 tons of CO2.  Festival sponsor PGE powered the festival with renewable energy by purchasing credits from wind farms in Oregon and Washington. EcoShuttle transported festival artists using vehicles that run on biodiesel. And the festival was a sanctioned friend of the Live Earth Concert.

An anomaly in the festival world, the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is produced by and as a benefit for Oregon Food Bank. All festival proceeds benefit Oregon Food Bank’s work to eliminate hunger and its root causes in Oregon and southwest Washington ... because no one should be hungry.

About festival sponsors

The 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is presented by First Tech Credit Union. Major sponsors are iQ Credit Union, The Oregonian A&E, KINK fm, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, PacificSource Health Plans, FedEx Freight, DaimlerChrysler Truck Financial, Miller Brewing, Delta Music Experience and Land Rover Portland.

About Oregon Food Bank

Oregon Food Bank is the hub of a statewide hunger-relief network of 20 regional food banks and 900 hunger-relief agencies and programs, dedicated to eliminating hunger and its root causes. During the 2005-06 fiscal year, Oregon Food Bank collected and delivered 34.3-million pounds of food throughout Oregon and Clark County, Wash.

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