Boundary Waters Blues Festival

Today we experienced the 8th annual Boundary Waters Blues Festival, held on the shores of Fall Lake in beautiful downtown Winton, MN (pop 185). We could have paddled about three miles from our campsite down Fall Lake to the venue, but we wimped out and drove instead. This was the last day of the three-day festival, and we grooved to fine blues music from 1:00 pm until midnight. I am not up on any of the current blues artists and had never heard of any of these guys, but they were all great. We saw 112 North Duck, Virgil Caine, Nellie Tiger Travis, Biscuit Miller and the Mix, and the headliner Larry McCray. Jack Kritzer performed between events. He would roam through the audience playing 45-minute solo riffs while talking with the crowd.

I have never been to a blues festival, so I can't be sure, but this didn't seem to be the usual crowd for such an event. Many seemed to be locals and most seemed to be outdoors folks: hunters, fishermen, campers and paddlers. The big door prize was a 42-pound kevlar canoe. Between acts contestants would spin the Wheel of Meat, to win dried ostrich meat products. You don't see that just anywhere.

Too much fun.