All along River Street, heads nodded along as they watched couples dance and listened as local band Bottle & Cans shared its particular brand of the blues from the stage on Rousakis Plaza.
From his seat on the stage, lead singer and guitarist Ray Lundy looked out over the crowd as a massive container ship sailed up the Savannah River toward the Garden City Terminal.
“Thank you all for stopping by and listening to us,” Lundy said between songs as onlookers scarfed down barbecue sandwiches from one of several local vendors. “And thank you especially to the (Savannah) Waterfront Association for letting us be a part of this today.”
For the first time, the Waterfront Association hosted a River Street festival geared toward those who love American traditions like jazz and blues music and barbecue.
The Blues, Jazz & BBQ Festival is an attempt not only to attract people to River Street, but organizers also hope to increase recognition of local barbecue spots, said Bill Dickinson, with the Savannah Waterfront Association.
“Savannah has a long history regarding barbecue food, jazz and blues music,” he said. “It has been a repeated discussion to celebrate these three together on the Riverfront during a special weekend.
“We would like to see our barbecue food tradition get recognition nationwide.”
The festival continues today from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Jeff Beasley will perform at 1 p.m. and Velvet Caravan takes the stage at 3:30 p.m.
ON THE WEB
SEE VIDEO OF THE BLUES, JAZZ & BBQ FESTIVAL AT SAVANNAHNOW.COM.