Rose City Blues Festival 1989

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.