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The Garvin Gate Neighborhood Association Presents The 15th
2009 GGBF HighlightsGarvin Gate Blues Festival
Friday, October 8th & Saturday, October 9th, 2010
2010: James "Super Chikan" Johnson
The Garvin Gate Blues Festival is the largest free neighborhood street music festival in Louisville, Kentucky and the public is invited. This two-day event takes place this year on Friday, October 8, from 6:30-11 pm, and Saturday, October 9, from 3-11 pm, at The Gate on Garvin Place at Oak Street in historic Old Louisville.
Proceeds from sponsorships and vendor sales benefit The Garvin Gate Neighborhood Association. A celebration of the blues, The Garvin Gate Blues Festival attracts a multi-racial, intergenerational audience to the cozy Old Louisville neighborhood of Garvin Place, between 4th & 6th Streets, 2 miles south of the Ohio River and 1 mile south of Broadway and downtown Louisville.
2010: Deitra Farr
2009’s festival included fantastic blues, fine foods and drinks, and artisan booths. Our headlining groups brought down the house down both nights, despite the rain and premature ending Friday. Lil’ Dave Thompson headlined Friday and Sugar Blue on Saturday.
2010’s festival will feature Moreland and Arbuckle from Kansas, one of America’s up and coming blues bands that have opened this year for Buddy Guy and Johnny Lang. They will be followed by legendary Mississippi bluesman and Winner of Traditional Blues Album of the Year Chikadelic at the 2010 Blues Music Awards, James "Super Chikan" Johnson who is the headliner Friday night. “Super Chikan” was also honored as a nominee for the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and Traditional Blues Artist of the Year. Saturday night is Blues Dames and Divas Night with Cheryl Renee and Them Bones from Cincinnati, followed by headliner Deitra Farr, former singer for Mississippi Heat from Chicago. Garvin Gate will be her first US performance in three years. Her band will feature legendary Chicago Blues guitarist Billy Flynn. This could very well be the finest Garvin Gate Blues Festival ever!
Information on the headliners is here
2007: Blues Festival stage
The Garvin Gate Blues Festival started out as a 1988 Rudyard Kipling “parking lot blues jam in Old Louisville that outgrew the parking lot”. At that time the Garvin Place Association was expanding its boundaries to become the Garvin Place Neighborhood Association and offered to host the growing event. Click on our history page to read our timeline.
Some of the legendary blues musicians that have performed at the Garvin Gate Blues Festival throughout the years include Sugar Blue, Lil’ Dave Thompson, Lurrie Bell, Jimmy Burns, H-Bomb Ferguson, Eddy Clearwater, Fenton Robinson, James ‘Thunderbird’ Davis, Roosevelt ‘Booba’ Barnes, Phil Guy, Lefty Dizz, Paul Black & the Flip Kings, Jelly Roll Kings, Professor’s Blues Review (Eddie Lusk), Maurice John Vaughn, Rocky Amaretto, Winston Hardy, James “Yank” Rachel, Lamont Gillispie and the Home Wreckers featuring Sam Myers, Kent Duchaine, Junior Kimbrough, Willie Kent & The Gents with Bonnie Lee, Magic Slim & The Teardrops, Mississippi Heat with Dietra Farr, Deborah Coleman, Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band, and Jimmy Dawkins, to name a few.
2010: Official poster - [ download ]
Bring your lawnchairs, cigars and porkpie hats, but leave your coolers, cans, bottles, dogs, and troubles at home.
If you have a question email us.
For our out-of-town visitors staying downtown, or anyone not wishing to drive, the festival is only 5 blocks south of Fourth & Broadway and can be reached by an easy walk, or on TARC bus #4. Get off at Oak St. and walk a half-block west to Garvin Place. Visit the TARC web site or call (502) 585-1234 for schedules.
With the support of the Garvin Gate Neighborhood Association, the Garvin Gate Blues Festival benefits the Old Louisville community and Metro Louisville and the quality of life in our city. Proceeds from the festival help to preserve and improve our Old Louisville neighborhood. The festival is run entirely by volunteers and you are invited to contact us and help out.
George Unseld - 1944-2010
This year we honor former Louisville Metro District 6 Councilman George Unseld, who passed away in June, for his contributions that have made this festival possible over the years. We also thank his successor, Deonte Hollowell, for continuing with George’s supportive efforts.
We also thank the Kentuckiana Blues Society for their support, including their president Gary Sampson. Much thanks go out to Mike Suttles for the musical lineup; David True for his photography used on this site; and Keith Clements for his historical timeline of this event. The Garvin Gate Blues Festival would never have made it this many years without the organization by our committee chair Howard Rosenberg. Finally, big thanks go out to all of the musicians who have performed over the years and the fans of the blues who have come out to make this event a success, without you it could not continue.
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