BEMIDJI -- Mississippi Music at the Bemidji Waterfront is back and several hundred people gathered on Wednesday, July 7, to kick off the first event of the summer season.
Friends and families sat in boats along the shore or sprawled out on grass along the waterfront near the Tourist Information Center to listen to music while children played, couples danced, and those 21 and older enjoyed a beer in the beer garden courtesy of Bemidji Brewing.
"This popular event features free, live music down along the Lake Bemidji shoreline outside of the Tourist Information Center on Wednesday evenings throughout the summer," organizers said in a release. "This 2021 season will be a bit shorter, due to the earlier unknowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Mississippi Music committee is thrilled to once again offer free, live music to downtown Bemidji."
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This week's concert featured the Erik Koskinen Band, which blends American folk, country, rock-n-roll, and blues, the release said.
"Koskinen and his top-shelf band realize a sound that is distinctive and fresh while familiar and rooted. Their music is a lyrical and musical metaphor of American’s theater of love and war, of history and pain, and of the reflections in the mirror," the release explained. "Knowing but not didactic, Koskinen channels the ways of Whitman and reverently enters the anthology of uniquely crafted wry songs with the likes of Woody Guthrie, Ry Cooder and Randy Newman while speaking as plainly as your neighbor."
Events will be held each week from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays through the end of August. Next Wednesday, July 14, Mary Cutrufello, who has been hailed by USA Today as “a fierce guitarist with a blistered-throat voice,” will take the stage. The St. Paul roots-rock singer-songwriter mixes original songs and classics of American music into a captivating, heartland-proud musical stew at once timeless and immediate. Her concert is made possible thanks to the support of Edward Jones, the release said.
Co-title season sponsors for the entire season are Paul Bunyan Communications and the Bemidji Downtown Alliance, in addition to weekly sponsors.
Here's a look at the summer lineup:
- July 14: Mary Cutrufello and band sponsored by Knife River Materials
- July 21: Black-eyed Snakes sponsored by Edward Jones
- July 28: Southside Acres sponsored by Sanford Health
- Aug. 11: The Bad Companions sponsored by North Central Door
- Aug. 18: The Slamming Doors sponsored by Choice Therapy
- Aug. 25: Known Only Locally and Friends sponsored by Security Bank USA
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A beer garden is also available each week to those 21 and older. Fans are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets or boats to enjoy this family friendly music venue. In case of rainy weather, local media will make announcements and signs will be posted near the venue directing concertgoers to Brigid’s Pub.
