Waterfront Blues Festival 1996

1996
47 bands played on two stages for five days. Headliners included Canned Heat, Guitar Shorty, Elvin Bishop, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Geno Delafose, Burnin' Chicago and James Harman. The festival raised 6,950 pounds of food and $150,000.

1995
Luther Allison, Bobby Parker Band with Little Jimmy King, Duffy Bishop, Deanna Bogart, Savoy Brown, Norton Buffalo, W.C. Clark, Tinsley Ellis, Bugs Henderson, Mark Hummel, Yvonne Jackson, King Ernest, Big Daddy Kinsey and The Kinsey Report, Little Charlie and The Nightcats, John Mayall, The Paladins, Paul deLay Band, Kelly Joe Phelps, Roy Rogers and The Delta Rhythm Kings, Finis Tasby, The Holmes Brothers and the subdudes perform at the festival. The five-day festival charged $3 and two cans of food for admission and raised 13,500 pounds of food and $45,000. Sponsors included Miller Genuine Draft and Southwest Airlines.

1994
The festival ran for four days, featuring 43 bands on two stages. Headliners included, Elvin Bishop, Eric Burdon, Johnny Nocturne Band, Frankie Lee, Little Johnny Taylor, Little Milton Revue, Dorothy Moore, Maria Muldaur, Rod Piazza, Jimmy Thackery, The Chambers Brothers, Walter "Wolfman" Washington and Smokey Wilson wowed blues fans.

1993
The festival grows by leaps and bounds. Performers include Otis Rush, Johnny Johnson and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. Plus Billy Boy Arnold, Long John Baldry, Latell Barton, Richard Berry, Sugar Blue, Deanna Bogart, Shirlie Dixon, Anson Funderburgh and The Rockets, Glenn Lane, Charlie Musselwhite, Tom Principato, Guitar Shorty, Terrance Simien and Mallet Playboys, Joe Louis Walker and Arbess Williams. Fans donate $105,000 and 41,000 pounds of food.

1992
Savoy Brown, Wild Child Butler, Johnny Copeland, James Cotton, Debbie Davies, Floyd Dixon, Smokin' Joe Kubec, Luke and The Locomotives, Big Jay McNeely, Paramount Singers, Snooky Pryor, Al Rapone and Zydeco Express, Sonny Rhodes, Fenton Robinson, Eddie Shaw and The Wolfgang, Wailin' Al Walker. The festival raised 2,500 pounds of food and $80,000.

1991
The festival is renamed the Waterfront Blues Festival. Headliners include Chicago blues legends Jimmie Rogers and Hubert Sumlin, Katie Webster and Luther Johnson. Plus Buddy Brown & The Houd Dogs, Johnny Heartsman, Joe Houston and Lee Allen, Luther Guitar Johnnson, Bernie Perle with Harmonica Fats, Pinetop Perkins, Rockin Sidney, Luther Tucker, Katie Webster, Papa John Creach, Henry Vestine and Big Daddy Kinsey & the Kinsey Report. Fans donate $80,000 and 25,000 pounds of food.

1990
Charlie Musselwhite, Luther Tucker, Joe Louis Walker, Mitch Woods & The Rocket 88s, Mick Clark Band and Elvin Bishop performed at the festival. The festival raised 1,500 pounds of food and $25,500.

1989
Festival moves to ‘the bowl’ in Waterfront Park just south of the Hawthorne Bridge, with two alternating ‘main’ stages playing to the crowd from opposite ends of the site. Festival expands to three days with a lineup that included non-stop performances by John Mayall, James Cotton, Paul deLay Band, Norman Sylvester, Curtis Salgado and the Stilettos, Bernie Pearl Band, Terry Robb Band, Harmonica Fats, Jimmy Dawkins Band. The festival raises pounds of canned food and $7,500.

1988
Oregon Food Share, predecessor of Oregon Food Bank, becomes the producer and beneficiary of the Rose City Blues Festival. This becomes Oregon's first annual blues festival to benefit people who are hungry in Oregon. Miller Genuine Draft is the festival's first title sponsor. The countdown of annual blues festivals begins here. This two-day festival at Waterfront Park featured a beer garden and continuous music from noon to 10 p.m. each day with 40 acts on two stages—a main stage south of the Morrison Bridge, and an acoustic stage at Salmon Street Fountain

The festival included: Charlie Musselwhite, The Continentals, Seattle’s Stevie and the Blue Flames, Tom McFarland Band, Jo and the JoMatics, Jesse Mae Hemphill, Blubinos with Monti Amundson on guitar, Bill Rhoades Party Kings, Norman Sylvester Revue, Curtis Salgado and the Stilettos, Little Charlie & the Nightcats, Al Carson, Mike Propsom, New Orleans Pete, Liquid Blues Band, Curtis Salgado and Terry Robb, Eagle Park Slim, Blues Professor and Legendary Dave, Jesse Mae Hemphill, Dan Perz Trio with Bill Rhoades, Chris Coltrane and the Blues Blasters, The Taildraggers, Paul Connor Band, Henry and the Hamhawks, Marg Tufo Revue, Johnnie and the Jokers, Terry Robb, William Clarke Band, Lloyd Jones Struggle and the Jelly Roll Kings.

Entry was a $1 donation and a can of food with proceeds going to Oregon Food Bank. In addition to Miller Genuine Draft, sponsors included Seagram’s Wine Cooler, KGON, the Cascade Blues Association and Downtowner Magazine. The festival raised $7,500 and 650 pounds of food.

1987
Festival begins as the Rose City Blues Festival, sponsored by the Cascade Blues Association, to benefit Burnside Community Council's projects for the homeless. Performers on the single main stage—a flatbed truck parked north of the Morrison Bridge—included John Lee Hooker, Paul deLay Band, Curtis Salgado & the Stilletos, Norman Sylvester Blues Band, Lloyd Jones Struggle, Bill Rhoades & The Party Kings, The Mayther Brothers, Terry Robb Band and DK Stewart. KBOO radio station broadcasts performances and has continued to do so throughout the history of the festival.