Duluth's concert sites not hit by the flooding

Bayfront Festival Park and the DECC got out OK, clearing the way for their upcoming stream of shows.

June 20, 2012 at 9:54PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

It should be clear sailing for the concerts in Duluth's Bayfront Festival Park, in the shadow of the Aerial Lift Bridge. / Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

It's a small-potatoes thing amid all the other major concerns for Duluth and its citizens right now, but the Bayfront Festival Park concert site has not suffered any noteworthy damage from the flooding that swept through town today. The scenic outdoor venue near Canal Park has a steady stream of shows coming up, including Wilco (July 1), the Twin Ports Bridge Festival with the Jayhawks (July 7), Steve Martin (Aug. 5), and, of course, the annual Bayfront reggae and blues festivals (July 14 and Aug. 10-12, respectively).

Steve Grazier of Secret Service Concerts – who is behind several of the shows there -- finally made it down to the site this afternoon after a failed attempt earlier in the day, and he said, "The park really looks untouched. Everything drained out of it very well." Duluth News Tribune arts reporter Christa Lawson also passed along that the nearby Duluth Entertainment Convention Center got out unscathed, save for a little roof leakage. Grazier said it's too early to tell if some sort of fundraiser/relief effort might be added to any of the upcoming concerts, but he said, "Most of the bands we have coming are the type to be supportive of that sort of thing." The Bayfront Jam is already a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club, featuring Martin one day and the '90s-rock bonanza with Everclear, Sugar Ray and the Gin Blossoms the other (Aug. 4).

about the writer

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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