Rock & Rails kicks off the summer season on Thursday, May 30

Niwot's wildly popular Rock & Rails summer concert series resumes Thursday, May 30, at Whistle Stop Park, a week earlier than in prior years. Once again, all summer long concertgoers will be able to enjoy music, dancing, drinks, food trucks, activity booths and people-watching. Concerts are held from 5 -9 p.m. every Thursday through August 29, except for a break on the 4th of July.

The May 30 event features Deborah Stafford & the Night Stalkers as the headliner taking the stage at 6:30 p.m. One of Stafford's blues groups was the opening act for a Rock & Rails evening last year. For the longer show this year, she is ramping it up by bringing her eight-piece band.

Rock & Rails booking agent Satir DeMarco, said, "The extra energy changes the genre to 'blues and beyond' which gets people out of their seats and crowding the dance floor." Stafford herself said on her website's concert listing, "The Night Stalkers will blow the roof off Niwot's gazebo!" Stay tuned to see if she keeps her promise.

Stafford is a former Niwot resident who is known as one of the best blues, jazz and big band singers in Colorado. She works with multiple blues bands, sings with the Flatirons Jazz Orchestra and started her renowned Jazz Quintet.

A few years ago she assembled the band that will perform on Thursday. Deborah Stafford & the Night Stalkers quickly rose to the top of the pack by winning the Colorado Blues Society Blues Challenge for two years in a row, and then continuing on to Memphis for the 2022 and 2023 International Blues Challenges (IBC).

The Delta Sonics, another IBC-recognized blues band, is opening Rock & Rails at 5:00 pm. DeMarco first booked the band at the Boulder Creek Festival 20 years ago and enthused that, "We're kicking off the season with a great double header."

DeMarco has booked the bands for Niwot's summer program since 2006. Her Zenith Entertainment business, which offers event entertainment planning and backstage event production, has helped her create bonds of friendship with many performers. She makes sure they're treated very well. She said, "My role as an emcee is to bring out the best in both the audience and the musicians, to create a synergy." The bands enjoy the "magic of Niwot," as DeMarco calls it, as so many of us do every day.