Blues Festival @ Dave Hall Plaza

I’ve been coming to this for a few years now. I started going to these way back when I first moved to Dayton, starting with the Reggae Festival in 1989 and have been attending these on and off ever since.

Dave Hall Plaza is one of the best places downtown. If the Arcade is the heart of downtown in brick and stone, this is the "green heart" of the city


Jim Nichols, the DDN downtown reporter, former editor of the Downtowner, and downtown resident, came up with the idea of having a music festival in the early 1980s. Thus was born the Women in Jazz festival, followed by the Blues Festival and Reggae Festival. These three festivals mark the summer in Dayton at Dave Hall Plaza, which really, really could use more events like this, as it is such a mellow space conducive to good vibes. They are put on by the city and the Downtown Dayton Partnership.

The festivals have two stages fronting the lawn area. The stages alternate: only one stage is "on" at a time, while the other is being used to set-up, so you don’t have any long breaks in the music.


There's dancing in front of the stages. You bring your own lawn chairs, or just a beach blanket, sit on the lawn or under the trees.



..and a vendor, food & drink, and beer area on Fourth and into the park a bit. This is were you get yr festival food and other goodies.

People come for the music and generally good and positive vibe of a musical Sunday in the park. It really doesn't get much better than this in downtown Dayton, and if you want to really tune into the unpretentious, laid-back spirit of the city at it's best, this and the other festvals here are the place and time.
Come down next year, or to the upcoming reggae festival, Sunday Sept 2...
For an extended pix tour of the festival click here