News Release

Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival named
one of Greatest Outdoor Music Festivals
in North America

“Thankfully, today’s best music fests still mean a pilgrimage to a certain place at a certain time in history, where no walls contain you and anything can happen. But mainly it’s about the tunes. And whatever your favorite noise, it’s coming to a chunk of grass near you.”
– Outside magazine

PORTLAND, Ore. (June 23, 2009) – Fortunately for Oregonians, the pilgrimage is short to the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, selected this month as one of the 15 Greatest Outdoor Music Festivals in North America by Outside magazine.

“With more than 100,000 attendees, this benefit for Oregon Food Bank is the largest blues fest west of the Mississippi. With 100-plus performances on four stages on the grassy banks of the Willamette River, it’s by far the best bang for your buck,” states Outside magazine.

“Don’t miss ... the R&B funkiness of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and the Zydeco Swamp Romp, where you can booty-shake to Creole blues all day long. Suggested donation of $10 – plus two cans of food – per day,” the magazine advises readers.

The 2009 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, presented by First Tech Credit Union, runs Thursday, July 2, through Sunday, July 5, at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, in downtown Portland, Ore.  It is OFB’s largest annual fund raiser. For every $10 donation, OFB can collect and distribute enough food to fill an emergency food box.

For more information about this grass-roots festival and what makes it so special, visit www.waterfrontblues.com.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.

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.