Blues festival shimmies through Ritzville

Despite brutal heat, Ritzville got the blues on Saturday.

Music fans shook their tail feathers, downed pints of beer and scarfed up smoked brisket at the 14th annual Ritzville Blues Festival – Blues, Brews and BBQs. Organizers expected the 1,700-person agricultural town to see about 3,000 visitors by 2 a.m., when the bars announced last call.

Four blocks of the Adams County city were closed off and lined with vendors selling food and merchandise, and the streets were filled with hundreds of camp chairs. A main stage in the central historic district and area bars hosted a total of 25 blues acts throughout the day.

“I’m an evil girl, don’t mess around with me,” crooned shimmying singer Heather Rayburn of the Randy Oxford Band. Audience members responded with catcalls.

When an announcer reminded festival-goers to drink plenty of water, his advice was met with alcohol-fueled derision.

“Water?!” guffawed several beer-drinking patrons of the Pastime Bar and Grill, which set up tables across from the main stage.

Walk-through sprinklers were erected around the festival area, while many storefronts set up cooling misters. Shade was a precious commodity by midday, and there was a continual line at the sno-cone stand.

Meanwhile, Don Grazzini, of West Richland, had set up two chairs in the sun with a good view of the stage. He and his wife, Janice, have been coming to the Ritzville festival for at least a decade, he said, rattling off a list of performers they came to see.

“But we’d be here even if we didn’t know anybody,” Grazzini said.

“Cuz we just love blues music,” his wife added.

Despite temperatures in the mid-90s, members of the Chamber of Commerce were optimistic that attendance would beat last year’s 2,800.

“Blues festival people are used to the heat,” said Sandy Hansberry, executive director of the chamber’s Blues Fest committee, which organizes the event.

More than 100 local volunteers, clad in purple tie-dye T-shirts, helped out. The owner of Adam’s Automotive even drove a free shuttle bus between downtown and nearby lodging. The bus, designed to minimize drunken driving, was hand-labeled “Blues Fest Drink Bus.”

The chamber turns a profit of about $4,000 after paying band fees that can reach $30,000, according to Darrel Koss, a chamber festival committee member.

The festival is a crucial source of profit for some Ritzville businesses, Koss said. Owners of local bars and lodging benefit the most, others said.

The proprietor of Whisperin’ Palms – a cool, dark bar that hosted bands throughout the day – expected to bring in plenty of cash.

“It pulls me through the year,” Walt Foley said outside the bar.

Last year, Foley said, he cleared $18,000 on festival day, while an average day brings in $400.

But not everyone in town was pleased.

Sam Duncan, owner of Ritzville Pretty Good Grocery and the town’s drugstore, was irked that organizers had failed to keep vendors from blocking pedestrians’ view of his business. He was selling cantaloupe, cherries, water and soda from coolers in front of his store, but not many customers could spot him behind a radio station’s stand.

“It ain’t all peaches and cream,” Duncan said.

His regular customers couldn’t make purchases if they didn’t want to pay the $35 fee to enter festival grounds, Duncan complained. The local bars, he said, were the real beneficiaries of the event.

“That being said, I like it,” Duncan added with a grin. “I like the party. I wish they’d do one every other week.”