Kansas City, Kansas, Street Blues Festival

Entering its fourth year of existence, the Kansas City, Kansas, Street Blues Festival has become one of this area’s premier summer musical events as well as the best bet for anyone aiming to discover the wealth of local blues lore. The festival dares to draw its lineup almost exclusively from artists with strong Kansas City ties. The result so far has been a consistently stellar schedule, and this roster is no exception. Annetta “Cotton Candy” Washington, D.C. Bellamy (pictured), Myra Taylor, the Blues Notions, the Eugene Smiley Big Band, the Bobby Watson Quintet and Ida McBeth fill out the local card, and guitarist Eddie C. Campbell, the only out-of-towner on the bill, takes the honors as this year’s featured headliner. Organized and executed by a dedicated core of volunteers, this year’s festival won funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and will also be featured on Dan Aykroyd’s House of Blues Radio Hour. Touted as a “passive, nonaggressive civil rights demonstration that resembles a blues festival,” the free, one-day event is expected to draw around 10,000 people to the neighborhood around 3rd Street and Parallel Parkway.