Aren’t getting around much anymore? Still haven’t busted the COVID isolation blues? The SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival wants to help you out with that, as it has almost every summer since 1987. Now with its main stage located in Victoria Park, the festival has 16 big acts and many others — a lot of them free — coming to Saskatoon July 4-13. Executive director Shannon Josdal explains that the main site is open July 6-13. Events on July 6-9 are free, and July 10-13 operates on a day pass system. There is also a ticketed series at The Bassment, known as the Strictly Jazz Series, and a lineup of acts playing from July 4 at various businesses around town.

The main headliners, with admission included in the day pass, include Johnny Reid, Melissa Etheridge, Arturo Sandoval, Laura Anglade, Jewel and Martin Kerr. Other notables include Shakey Graves, Frazey Ford, Belle Plaine and Alexis Normand. Josdal also noted that B.C.’s hot duo Blue Moon Marquee will be performing. “They’re a really exciting act, they’re freshly minted Juno winners (Blues Album of the year), and nominated at Western Canadian Music Awards. “We’re extremely excited about them. All of these are really big names. Martin Kerr, we’re also really excited about him.” But it has not been easy to get all these acts together for the festival. “It’s a challenge to put together at the best of times,” Josdal said, and this is not the best of times. “You have a lot of moving pieces and when you’re artistic directing a program, you’re looking at it from the artistic side, what goes together and what is artistically representative of our mandate, and what is exciting and what is something new that people in Saskatchewan maybe haven’t seen before.

“But you also have to look at it from the business end, of what’s going to drive tickets, and then you also have to look at from the practicality side, the logistical end — who can get here and who’s available on what date, and what is the cost, and what is our budget.” And then, of course, the post-pandemic era has not been kind to festivals and live events, she added. “When it comes to the live event industry, we were the first ones out and the last ones back. For everything else that’s recovering, we’re still a year or two behind.” Arts and festival groups have been lobbying funding organizations and various levels of government to let them know that “hey, this industry is still having a rough go and we’re still struggling to find our footing,” Josdal said. “Here at Sask Jazz, we’re rebuilding and we’re making it work. It’s just more of a slog than it ever was.” That said, they’re ready to go with indoor and outdoor events.

“The vast majority of events are outside. If you’re really an indoor cat, we also have The Bassment. We also have a really wonderful neighbourhood popup series (starting July 4) that’s kind of a double feature with Saskatchewan artists and local businesses. We have artists performing in local businesses across Saskatoon. “If you love being outside in the sun we have day programming. If you’re a night owl we have late night shows.” Adding to making the event easier to attend, the festival also has a free shuttle to alleviate parking issues. The shuttle has five pickup locations in Downtown, Broadway and Riversdale, that all go straight to Victoria Park.

Check the website for details https://www.saskjazz. com/

Josdal also noted that the new location has given the festival more space, allowing for new food offerings including a food truck village and a huge beer garden supplied by local breweries and distillers. Indeed, Nine Mile Legacy is making a signature beer for the festival. There will also be a family fun zone and an artisan market. “There’s so much to do and take in. Especially on the free program days, come on down, just take a look, and have something to do,” Josdal said. “We really hope people join us and support live music. It’s critical times for the live music industry and this is a really important part of the community. “We do a lot of outreach work, we do a lot of education work outside of the programming, and we rely on the support of Saskatoon and Saskatchewan as a whole. So we really hope folks will come out and support us this year.”

Tickets are available at https://www.saskjazz.com/ festival/box-office/

-Joanne Paulson