Jazz on pause for now

This year, on what would have marked the ninth year of the much loved Jazz on 2nd Ave festival, downtown Niwot will be void of the wafting notes of trumpets, bass, drums, and saxophones.

Craig Blockwick, co-founding director of the event, said that with the closure of Treppeda’s Ristorante, the location of the festival became a problem. While the organizers looked at a couple of other places in town to have the event, the given timeframe wasn’t conducive to either the necessary permitting or garnering approval from other businesses to hold the event near their establishments.

“The location (of Treppeda’s) was an integral part of the way the festival was set up and conducted,” Blockwick said. “We investigated the idea of moving the festival to the other end of the street or to the park. We just decided it was too much to try to pull off in a year. The future is to be determined.”

Blockwick said Colorado Jazz Group, a non-profit organization which received proceeds from the festival, will be ongoing. “We’re continuing our education programs in the local schools even though the festival isn’t going this year. We like a lot of what we’re doing; we just have to figure it out for the future.”

By press time, Howard Treppeda, co-founder of the event, had not returned phone calls to the Courier.