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Art & Jazz Fest kicks off Friday in Grand Junction

Caitlin Row
crow@gjfreepress.com
Courtesy | Jim Cox
Staff Photo |

Looking for something to do with Mom this weekend? Then you’re in luck! The 25th annual Art & Jazz Festival on Grand Junction’s historic Main Street is set to kick off today and last the weekend (May 10-12). Live music is scheduled for all three days — Friday (4-10 p.m.), Saturday (11 a.m. to 10 p.m.) and Sunday (10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.).

“It’s a fun Mother’s Day event, especially Sunday with relaxed music,” said Grand Junction Downtown Partnership spokesman Aaron Hoffman. “Go downtown and have brunch at one of the restaurants.”

The three-day fest is free to the public, and it’s chock full of artists, live music, food, wine and beer.



“This is the largest Art & Jazz Festival ever, which is fitting for its 25th anniversary,” Hoffman said in a news release. “All of our artist booths are full, and from high-school jazz bands to the headlining Hazel Miller Band and Chris Daniels & the Kings, there’s something for everyone.”

Another notable band playing this weekend is Gumbo le Funque, a New Orleans-styled ensemble performing jazz and funk music, he added.



In its second year, the popular Main Street Art School returns to the street with free art classes for anyone. The only cost is a $7 supply fee per class.

According to the news release, the program provides free, beginner-level, semi-private lessons in front of the Oakley Gallery at 602 Main St. on Saturday and Sunday. Instructors from the Grand Valley Art Students League will be leading a variety of one-hour lessons.

“All instructors are donating their time,” Hoffman said.

Knit on the Corner is back this year, too.

Hoffman said Grand Junction’s “guerilla knitters” will be decorating Main Street’s numerous sculpture pieces.

Also during Art & Jazz Festival, Grand Valley Books, 350 Main St., is hosting an art show Friday from 6:30-9 p.m. It will feature a variety of local artists, said Seth Anderson, a Grand Valley artist who owns Loki Outerwear.

“We’ve been part of the art scene for three years since we opened,” said Margie Wilson, owner of Grand Valley Books.

The show will raise funds for Friends of the Northern Dolores (FOND). This group works to conserve lands for public use in Mesa County, particularly in the Gateway area, Anderson noted.

“Ushering Grand Valley Books into the downtown art scene will be photographers Lee Gelatt and JoAnn Moon, painters Seth Anderson and Cynthia Duff, and the multi-talented Piera Kllanxhja,” Anderson said in an email.

“Mary Jursinovic of Paonia’s Creekside Pottery will display stoneware pottery made of colored clay, hand-assembled to create scenic landscape designs,” Wilson added.

Event organizers ask that all dogs be left at home during the festival.

For more information on Art & Jazz Festival, visit http://www.downtowngj.org/artjazz.cfm.


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