Rained out once, Burnsville jazz fest will take the stage again

A show next week, which features three local bands, takes the place of the fourth annual Burnsville festival.

By Kevin Duchschere, Star Tribune

Last update: October 10, 2007 - 6:48 PM

For Burnsville, next week's Jazz-toberfest Encore is the silver lining in the cloud that drenched the city's Art and All That Jazz Festival back in August.

After that event was rained out, organizers decided to stage a slightly truncated version in the fall featuring three popular local bands.

And just to be on the safe side, they've arranged for a 40-by-160-foot tent to make sure everything stays nice and dry for the Oct. 20 event.

"It's a gathering for the community, a day when families can enjoy themselves," said business owner and City Council Member Dan Gustafson.

Gustafson, who once ran a jazz club in Minneapolis, started the summer festival in 2004 to help showcase Burnsville's new Nicollet Commons Park. He put together a committee, and 10 weeks later the spanking-new festival had drawn 1,800 people.

Last year the single-day jazz festival, filled out with food vendors and scores of artists displaying their crafts, attracted 15,000 fans. Organizers had high hopes for this summer's festival, which featured nationally known artist Greg Adams, a smooth jazz horn player with Tower of Power, and the Blue Fire Band from Florida.

Then the rains came. Only about 500 to 600 people turned out, and the festival was called off at 4:30 p.m. before any of the acts had a chance to play.

Gustafson arranged for Adams and Blue Fire to perform that night at the Burnsville Holiday Inn, where they caught some patrons by surprise. "One guy at the bar looked at me and said, 'Boy, they really play good music here,'" he said.

Gustafson said that organizers hoped to use proceeds to create a music scholarship for college students, but so far that's still just a plan. Despite its popular success and a long list of sponsors, the festival hasn't yet made money.

Toward that end, organizers decided this year to sell $5 buttons for admission. Those buttons will be honored for the Jazz-toberfest and also for next summer's Art and All That Jazz. And buttons purchased next week also will be good for the 2008 jazz fest.

Next week's Jazz-toberfest will run for six hours -- four hours less than the summer version -- and be held at Civic Center Park, less than a mile south of Nicollet Commons.

"We're a city that has aged like most U.S. cities have, and these things attract young families to live here," Gustafson said. "It gives people a reason to settle in Burnsville."

Kevin Duchschere • 612-673-4455

Kevin Duchschere • kduchschere@startribune.com

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