Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival - JazzFest History

JazzFest has been an annual event since 1988. The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival, JazzFest is a free, two-day music festival that features two stages and over 18 hours of music including jazz, blues, rock, reggae, foul, funk among other musical genres.

JazzFest is a unique event that relies on funding from over 50 local, regional and national sponsors and assistance of over 800 volunteers, making it one of the largest community events in the state.

Over its fifteen-year life, JazzFest has accumulated an impressive roster of performing acts consisting of Grammy Award winners, jazz and blues legends, and many of the most sought- after musicians in the world. Some past headlining performers at JazzFest include the Derek Trucks Band, the Robert Cray Band, Susan Tedeschi, Mavis Staples, John Hiatt, Koko Taylor, Dave Koz, Chris Botti, Bo Diddley, Kenny Wayne Shpperd, Los Lobos, Buddy Guy, the Neville Brothers and this year’s headliners include Taj Mahal and Jonny Lang.

JazzFest also offers other attractions at the festival, including a second stage featuring local and regional acts, a children’s area, an increased number and variety of vendors, and a poetry tent.

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival, JazzFest, began as a small event in 1988, with three musical acts and one food vendor. Approximately 250 attended that year. Over the next few years, planners investigated new and larger venues, ticket pricing and increased budgeting for musical acts. In 1996, the planning committee and new board of directors decided the event would be free, with financial support based largely on sponsorships and volunteers to run all aspects of festival coordination. In this year, the festival was officially named the “Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival, JazzFest” and found a home at Yankton Trail Park in south Sioux Falls.

Attendance numbers have fluctuated from 65,000 to 105,000 over the past three years with two stages, a children’s area that includes live children’s music and an artist-in-residence, poetry tent and over 30 food vendors and 20 non-food vendors.

The positive impact that JazzFest has on the community of Sioux Falls and state of South Dakota is shown by the overwhelming positive response voiced by community and government leaders and attendees from across the nation and Canada. JazzFest is an important event because it provides high-quality live music to citizens from all walks of life.

Comments from attendees over the past fifteen years have provided proof to the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society that JazzFest is important because of its contribution to the culture and arts in our state.