[Dixielandjazz] Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, New Venue

[Robert S. Ringwald]

>From the Sacramento Bee

Blame it on the rain or thank the heavens, either way the Sacramento Jazz
Festival
is adding Raley Field to its list of venues.
The field's operators and event sponsors hope the one-year deal announced
Friday
will lead to a lasting relationship taking full advantage of the stadium by
bringing
in a headliner with "crossover appeal."
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 "I think they are as excited as we are," said Jill Harper, executive
director of
the Sacramento Jazz Festival.
Event organizers - citing costs - decided last year to stop using Cal Expo
and hotels
near the Arden Fair mall as music sites for the Memorial Day weekend music
festival.
Seeking to consolidate festival operations, they added West Sacramento's
River Walk
Park to the Sacramento Convention Center, downtown hotels and Old
Sacramento.
But rainfall on 13 of the first 16 days of April changed their plans.
The shift to Raley Field, which is adjacent to River Walk Park, keeps the
festival
tight, but also adds much needed parking, including spots for the
recreational vehicles
that used to park at Cal Expo for the four-day event. The RV spots will not,
however,
include electrical hook-ups.
"We really have been scrambling, once we found out that we were not going to
be able
to use River Walk Park," Harper said. "The ground is just so saturated."
The rain prompted a hurried one-year deal with hopes of inking a longer-term
agreement
to use the home of the Triple A baseball River Cats.
"It certainly adds a premier venue that, in the future, will give us an
opportunity
to bring in some headliner acts," said Steve Hammond, president and CEO of
the Sacramento
Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The Jazz Festival, organized by the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society,
historically
has featured early jazz also known as Dixieland. Over the years, the
festival has
branched out. Harper said an eventual headliner could perform blues,
ragtime, zydeco,
Latin jazz or other related music with broader appeal.
"We're looking for a performer who would appeal to a crossover audience,"
Harper
said.
Harper and Hammond said the event would benefit from the expertise that
River Cats'
officials bring to the table.
Special events are a growing part of Raley Field's operations. The stadium
is expected
to host about 16,000 Dave Matthews fans late this summer.
"We're a ballpark, but we are also a venue for all events imaginable," said
Alan
Ledford, president of the Sacramento River Cats.
"We're very hopeful that we are going to be able put something in place for
the long
term," Ledford said of the arrangement with the Jazz Festival.
Hammond said he was glad West Sacramento is once again serving as a co-host
after
the event left years ago.
"Now with the addition of Raley Field, we have an event that really
celebrates both
sides of the river," Hammond said. "It reunites the Jazz Jubilee with West
Sacramento."
About the writer:
The Bee's Ed Fletcher can be reached at (916) 321-1269 or
efletcher at sacbee.com