While thousands from near and far jammed out, supported vendors and enjoyed the sunshine during the St. Peter Ambassadors’ Blues Fest, a few brave souls got up from their seats and danced in front of the crowd as the Gopher Tones took the stage Saturday.
Rochester’s Jeff Mostrom and Ann Farmer drove to St. Peter to see the band and were one of the pairs getting their groove on.
“This is our home band,” Mostrom said. “They’re very good, and they’re very friendly.”
Mostrom said he and Farmer love blues music because it’s fun and easy to dance to.
“It has a pretty good variety of tempos,” Farmer added.
While the pair listens to all kinds of music, Mostrom said they relate to their fellow listeners.
“This is our age group of music, and as you can see, the crowd is like, yes, we’re all friends. We’re all the same age. We’re all in the same boat,” he said.
Couple Terri Isom and Clarke Nicholson from St. Bonifacius also took to the dance floor.
“As a person gets older, you begin to realize it doesn’t matter anymore,” Nicholson said.
“You just start to have fun and you do your thing. Whatever makes you happy, that’s what works.”
Isom said her daughter went to school at Gustavus Adolphus College and that she has since gotten familiar with the St. Peter community.
“It’s such a fun area to go down for music festivals. It’s a great community,” she said.
Event co-chair Dave Detlefsen, of the St. Peter Ambassadors, said they expected to draw round 5,000 people Saturday.
The festival featured both local, regional and larger-known bands.
While the event itself is free, money from beer sales goes back to the community.
Detlefsen said the Ambassadors recently pledged $25,000 to help renovate the town’s baseball field.
Detlefsen said it’s great to draw people from near and far to the area.
“It’s great to bring these people from St. Peter out of their houses into the community and to bring people outside the community into St. Peter to see what St. Peter has,” he said.