Second Niwot Jazz Fest in the Books

Proving the event has staying power, the Second Annual Niwot Jazz Festival wrapped up Saturday night, June 25, 2022. Approximately 650 people were in attendance throughout the afternoon and evening and enjoyed almost perfect weather and an even better jazz lineup.

Keith Waters, the Jazz Festival's Musical Director, as well as CU Music Professor and Inkberry Books co-owner said, "We were really delighted with the way it turned out."

Musicians from as far away as New York and Washington, DC, played the Festival and the event brought visitors from all over as well.

Gene Hayworth, Festival Director, co-owner of Inkberry Books, and CU Library faculty member, said people from as far away as Phoenix, Arizona attended along with visitors from Denver, Thornton, Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette and, of course, Niwot.

Hayworth said they didn't do a lot of direct advertising, but the event was promoted on jazz radio KUVO, Boulder Community Radio KGNU, in the Boulder Daily Camera, Longmont Times Call, and the Left Hand Valley Courier, and was regularly mentioned at Niwot's Rock & Rails event. Hayworth said they also got help from local businesses. "Businesses like the Niwot Tavern even promoted the Jazz Festival on their social media," Hayworth said.

This year, the Jazz Festival was later in the day and earlier in the year than last year's festival, and featured four main acts with solo performers between each set. The Hot Tomatoes Dance Orchestra started the afternoon off, followed by The Three Tenors with Rich Chiaraluce, Pete Lewis and Ed McGregor.

The headliner, Janis Siegel of Manhattan Transfer, with Chuck Redd, Brad Goode and the Keith Waters Trio, took the stage at 6:15 p.m. The evening closed out with the danceable Quemando Salsa Dance Party. All of the events were free and open to the public.

"Our goal" said Waters, "was to get as wide a variety of jazz as possible. You could say that the more traditional jazz groups were bounded by less traditional styles."

One of the groups that provided financial support to the Festival was the Niwot Local Improvement District (LID). "We received the money from the LID with the expectation that we up the level of and increase the quality of the music," Waters said. "That's why we brought Janis (Siegel) in." Waters happened to know a friend of Siegel's and asked him if he could "drop his name" when asking Siegel to perform. When Waters was finally able to connect with Siegel, she said, "Any friend of his is a friend of mine." And Waters said that was all it took in getting her to come perform. Waters stated that Siegel was on her way to Hawaii to perform with Manhattan Transfer so Niwot was an easy stopping point for her. "She really seemed to enjoy herself! And the Niwot Inn was great in putting her up while she was in town," Waters said.

When asked why Waters and Hayworth dove into such a big undertaking, Waters said, "With my background as a professional musician, I really thought it would be nice to have a venue in which to support local artists and big names as well." Hayworth added, "With Covid, musicians really had nowhere to play. We really wanted to give them that opportunity."

The Festival, sponsored by the Niwot Cultural Arts Association, is volunteer run from top to bottom. Niwot Community Association (NCA) members handled closing off the parking lot and volunteered during the day for various activities. Tom Myer recruited and organized volunteers for the event and Julie Breyer came through with the Rock &Rails "Gargoyles" who make sure all waste is properly disposed of. "Niwot has quite an astounding level of volunteerism," Waters said. "This town really has its act together and knows how to put on an event."

The event was largely Niwot sponsored as well with local businesses donating both money and goods and services. Additionally this year, rather than having the Festival have a drinks booth, local businesses were able to serve "to go" drinks and food to festival goers. Raza Fresa Mexican restaurant was serving house and premium margaritas in front of the restaurant. Both Farow and the Niwot Tavern were serving food and drinks.

Another sponsor this year was Pathways to Jazz, a Boulder non-profit organization that mainly awards grants to jazz musicians to create and record albums. Waters said he didn't think the organization would sponsor a festival, but with one of their objectives also being to provide wider exposure to jazz, it was a nice fit.

Waters and Hayworth said there would "likely" be a third installment of the Jazz Festival next year. Festival t-shirts are still available at Inkberry with proceeds going directly to the Festival to help cover expenses. For updates on upcoming Festival dates, a list of sponsors and more, go to the Festival website at https://www.niwotjazz.org/.