Blue Collar BBQ and Arts Festival

As I stated in an earlier post, Power 96 was proud to be a part of two big events held in Faribault on Saturday, Aug. 8. The first one was the aforementioned Ride for Hospice hosted by 1st United Bank in Faribault at Faribault Harley-Davidson. The second one was Faribault's biggest block party, hosted by the Paradise Center for the Arts, known as the Blue Collar BBQ and Arts Festival.

Each year for the past seven years, volunteers and business owners converge on the 200 and 300 blocks of Central Avenue and fence it all in, set up security entrances, set up food booths, art and marketplace booths, a washer tournament area, a BBQ competition pit, a kids area filled with inflatables and other fun things for families to do and, of course, the piece de resistance, the music stage set up on a portion of Third Street, built to host 12 hours of live music provided by bands hand-picked from throughout the area. The Dead Pigeons took the stage about 11AM and the music continued throughout the day before finishing up with the Pour Me Band. In between, the audience was entertained by the Mullet River Boys (the joke was on us, two of them turned out to be young ladies), Moses Oakland, the Jason Paulson Band and the 8th Street Band.

Once again this party, which is the year's biggest fundraiser for the Paradise Center for the Arts, had to have been a huge success. I ran into several people I haven't seen in a long time, noticed that a couple of food booths had sold out of many of their menu items and hung out in the large audience gather in Third Street to listen to the music.

I'd like to extend a big thank you to the volunteers who help put together this massive daylong event that I look forward to each year. Because of them, my family and I have many fond memories of hanging out together, enjoying the great food and the even better music that's provided each year.