St. Louis Blues

It was “a struggle and a half” to get the Kansas City, Kan., Street Blues Festival started, says founder Dawayne Gilley. The results speak for themselves.

The idea was to do something joyously authentic on a street that jumped with musical activity back in the day. And now it’s evolved into something bigger, embracing gospel and Kansas City jazz, without compromising that original idea.

This year the festival has a new home — the park at the confluence of the Missouri and Kaw rivers — and its longest roster of local and national acts yet. The stars include St. Louis blues giant Henry Townsend; one of the few authentic Delta bluesmen left, David “Honeyboy” Edwards; guitarist/singer Louisiana Red; Dennis Binder, a pianist who’s on some legendary Sun and Chess records; one-man band Terry “Harmonica” Bean; and St. Louis harmonica wizard Arthur Williams.

That’s in addition to the roster of familiar Kansas City blues artists: Cotton Candy, King Alex, D.C. Bellamy, Millage Gilbert and many more.

The festival grew out of discussions between Gilley and Marvine McKeithen, proprietor of Club Paradox on Third Street in KCK.

“(At first) people were telling us, ‘You can’t be serious about having a festival on Third Street,’ ” Gilley says. “They were telling us people could get knifed or shot. … But everybody had their best foot forward on that day.”

That first festival, in 2000, drew about 1,000 people, Gilley says. The crowd more than doubled the second year, to the point Gilley wasn’t sure he could handle another festival, but McKeithen brought in more organizers to share the load. And the train kept a-rollin’.

Gilley, a truck service foreman for Metro Ford in daily life and a writer for Living Blues magazine, is quick to credit others who got involved.

“Kaw Valley Arts really stepped up for us and got us grant money,” Gilley says. “We got money from the National Endowment for the Arts, and just to be considered by them was a high enough honor. The pastor of a church on Fourth Street, Royal Scott, said he’d like to be involved in this. ‘Why don’t we do a gospel Sunday?’ he said and helped us put it together.”

This year the festival has moved a half-mile, from its Third Street location to Kaw Point Park.

“I’ve always looked at the spot and thought it would be a great spot for the festival,” Gilley says. “More people will feel comfortable coming to the park.”

And there’s room for two stages.

It’s the festival’s most ambitious presentation yet, with three days of driving, heartfelt blues and gospel. There’ll even be acoustic sets from artists who usually work plugged-in (“Nobody’s ever seen King Alex do an acoustic set,” Gilley says), plus the festival’s first-ever panel discussion on the state of Kansas City blues then and now.

Not bad for an event that had plenty of naysayers.