Great weather leads to big crowd at BluesFest

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Sparta BluesFest, Blues on the River 2009, experienced excellent weather on Saturday, July 18 in Evansville. The entire area was packed with people from early afternoon to late into the night.

Gates opened at noon with music kicking off at 2:00 p.m. beginning with the rendition of the National Anthem played by nine year old Brendon Wallace, from Marissa, on violin. Five bands were lined up for the event, including headliner Carlos Johnson.

Local favorites, the Barefoot Blues Band, opened up the music and energized the crowd. At around 3:30 p.m. the music was stopped so people could watch the wake- boarding demo that was put on by Extreme Power Sports. Kicking the music back up was another local band, Fertile Soil. The Rockin' Daddy-O's played next and brought the talents that they have portrayed when the event was held in Sparta to Evansville this year. Rich McDonough and Rough Grooves followed by putting on an exciting and lively show in front of headliner Carlos Johnson from Chicago, IL.

Johnson brought his talents and experience with him to put on a great show for Evansville. Johnson has played with greats such as Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and many more.

All the bands seemed to be widely thanked and appreciated by the great crowd on hand for this year's event.