AUBURN – Two downtown bars, Midnight Blues and Gritty McDuff’s, plan to host a seven-hour blues festival Sunday with proceeds to go to hurricane relief.
They’re calling it, “Mardi Gras Comes Early.”
Plans include erecting a stage in a closed-off section of Main Street beside Festival Plaza, bringing tables onto the sidewalks and street and nonstop music, beginning at noon.
And the two bars – new competitors in the downtown – are doing it together.
“We’re friends,” Midnight Blues owner Paul Morency said Monday. “We hang out over there, and they come over here.”
Morency opened his club in 2001 at the southwest corner of Court and Main streets. In late August, Gritty McDuff’s Brewing Co. opened a pub across the street.
“We’re busier now since they opened,” Morency said Monday.
When the festival idea came up, it seemed natural to work together, he said.
It took only two weeks to plan.
The idea was originally hatched by musician Kevin Kimball of the band Blue Steel Express.
“It made sense,” Morency said. “The hurricane hit Louisiana and that’s where the blues came from.”
While Kimball approached the bands, Morency talked to Gritty’s.
It was an easy decision to make, said Thomas Wilson, marketing director for Gritty’s. By working together, both clubs can raise more money for charity than they could apart.
The United Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross plans to attend and collect donations.
The event is free to all, though a $10 donation will be encouraged.
“We think that’s reasonable for a full day of music,” Wilson said.
Longtime radio DJ Mark Persky will emcee.
Scheduled bands include: Bonnie Edwards and the Practical Cats, Tom O’Connell Blues Band, Jimmy and the Soul Cats, Mark Miller, Round House, Keeping Atom, the 50/50 Blues Band, Pam Baker, Luther James, Tiger Tiger and Blind Lemons.
Midnight Blues and Gritty’s each plan to serve people at their own sidewalk tables.
Mardi Gras Comes Early’ Blues Festival
Noon to 7 p.m.
Suggested donation: $10
Beside Festival Plaza, Main Street, Auburn
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