News Release

2009 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival
offers special passes

PORTLAND, Ore. (June 29, 2009) –  The 2009 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, presented by First Tech Credit Union, offers four-levels of special festival passes this year.

Daily entry is a suggested donation of $10 and two cans of food per person (including children) per day, making it the best entertainment bargain around. For every $10 donation, Oregon Food Bank can collect and distribute enough food through its food distribution program to fill an emergency food box.

“In addition, the 2009 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival offers special festival passes with extra benefits For example, passes ensures early entry to this world-class festival and priority entry if the festival fills to capacity,” says Barbara Peschiera, director of development, Oregon Food Bank. “Moreover, your support keeps the festival thriving and provides much-needed food to people who are hungry throughout Oregon and Clark County, Wash.”

The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is the only festival in the nation produced by a food bank, she notes. “It’s truly a grassroots festival with a special character that defines the best of Oregon: neighbors coming together to help their neighbors in need.” 

• Four-Day Festival Pass, $40. The pass guarantees re-entry and includes a collectors’ button.

• Blues Buddy Pass, $55. The pass includes all of the above PLUS early entry to place your blanket before the main gate opens AND admission to two Wildhorse Resort and Casino Super Jams at the Marriott Hotel Ballroom on:

- July 3, featuring the bluesy soul of Karl Denson’s Tiny     Universe and the soaring sacred steel of The Lee Boys; and

- July 4, a Battle of the ‘Bones, featuring New Orleans’ acclaimed Bonerama and Big Sam’s Funky Nation.

• Blues Benefactor Pass, $250 or $450 a pair. The pass includes all of the above, PLUS a parking pass, festival poster and T-shirt, food and beer coupons, access to a central viewing area, complimentary Sunday brunch and discount for a massage while at the festival.

• Individual Sponsor, $1,000, receives VIP treatment for making a significant gift to support Oregon Food Bank’s mission. The pass includes all of the above PLUS access to on-stage viewing, sponsor recognition, VIP ticket to July 4th barbecue and fireworks show, and daily VIP pass to the Back Beat Hospitality Pavilion.

• Blues Boat Pass, $50 per flag. The pass includes a 12” x 18” festival flag, created especially for the flotilla of blues fans anchoring and boating off the banks of Tom McCall Waterfront Park, to enable boaters to show their support for Oregon Food Bank.

To purchase packages on site, visit the DME Louisiana Pavilion. For more information, visit www.waterfrontbluesfest.com.

• In addition, the 2009 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, once again, offers its popular Delta Music Experience Blues Cruises: two evening cruises and three afternoon cruises.  

The festival runs July 2 to 5 at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland, Ore.  Now in its 22nd year, the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is the largest blues festival West of the Mississippi, drawing visitors from throughout the world.  The festival features more than 100 performances, workshops, after-concert dances, Wildhorse Fireworks Show and more.

Headliners include:

Tuesday, July 2: Three-time Grammy Award winner bluesman Keb’ Mo’, Robben Ford, Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son) and Promise of the Real, Soul Vaccination.

Friday, July 3: Johnny Winter; Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe; Sonny Landreth, Dave Gonzales; The Lee Boys; Zydeco Swamp Romp, presented by Cascade Zydeco Assoication, with Geno Delafose, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas; Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat.

Saturday, July 4: Bonerama, Candye Kane, Storm Large with Pete Peterson Big Band, Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, March Fourth Marching Band, Kevin Gordon, Harmonica Blow-Off, Wildhorse Resort and Casino Fireworks Show.         

Sunday, July 5: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Magic Slim and the Teardrops, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Ryan Shaw, Terry Evans, Patrick Lamb and the Mississippi Horns with G.C. Cameron and Liv Warfield, and Delta Juke Jam with Jimmy “Duck Holmes, Terry Hanck and Terry “Harmonica” Bean.

Food and funds raised at the festival benefit Oregon Food Bank's mission to eliminate hunger and its root causes ... because no one should be hungry.

About Oregon Food Bank: Oregon Food Bank is a nonprofit, charitable organization. It is the hub of a the Oregon Food Bank Network, a statewide network of 20 regional food banks and 915 hunger-relief agencies serving Oregon and Clark County, Wash.

About festival sponsors: The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is presented by First Tech Credit Union.  

Major sponsors include FedEx Corporation, iQ Credit Union, The Oregonian A&E, KINK.fm, Good Neighbor Pharmacy,Wildhorse Resort and Casino and Travel Portland.

Supporting sponsors include Mission Foods, Deschutes Brewery, Henry’s, Beringer Wine, Snapple, Earth2o Water, Pepsi, Frito Lay Snacks, Yoshida Sauce, Dave’s Killer Bread, Eggland’s Best, Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Burt’s Bees, NW Natural, The Boeing Company, PacificSource Health Plans, OregonLive.com, Blues Revue, Music Millennium, True Tone Audio, Karolyn March, Lions Foundation, Cascade Blues Association, Oregon State Fair, Winthrop Music Association, Oregon Potters Association, Cascade Zydeco Association, Delta Music Experience, University Place Hotel, Marriott Hotel, RiverPlace Hotel, Hotel Fifty, travelportland.com.

For more information, visit www.waterfrontbluesfest.com.

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Note to reporters and editors: A Blues Blog, music samples by festival artists on our Jukebox, video links and downloadable, high-resolution photos are available at www.waterfrontbluesfest.com.