Marquette Area Blues Festival begins

Hundreds of people were grooving all night long to the opening of the 10th annual Marquette Area Blues Festival.

The festival kicked off at 6 tonight at Ellwood Mattson Lower Harbor Park with a free show.

Laura Rain and the Caesars came north from Detroit to play, followed by the Gas House Gorillas from New York City.

The wet weather made setup difficult.

“We left here late late night, got a few hours of sleep, came right back at it early this morning,” Blues Festival director Mark Hamari said. “We’d been going all day, but right around 4:00, it started to come together, and we got her done.”

The Blues Fest performances start at 1 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday and should last until about 10:00 on both nights.

Adult day passes are $30 at the gate, with a weekend pass costing $50.

Young adult tickets are $10 per day; kids 14 and under are free with a paid adult.