The sounds of some of the nation's top-flight blues musicians filled the air around the Isle of Ferns this weekend. Under a large blue and white tent, national acts R.J. Mischol and His Red Hot Blues Band, Liz Mandeville and the Blue Points, Albert Cummings, Smokin' Joe Kubek and Tab Benoit entertained crowds Saturday at the 18th annual Big Bull Falls Blues Fest.

About 10,000 to 12,000 people attended the festival Saturday, said Leah Alters, executive director of Wausau Area Events.

This year, the festival added an area to purchase craft beers and a special VIP ticket section with an opportunity to meet the musicians.

But even those who purchased regular-admission tickets were able to walk right up to the stage to see the sweat pouring off the performers.

Besides the thousands of chairs arranged in front of the stage, hundreds of people in lawn chairs extended on either side of the tent.

Blues radio disc jockey Snapshot, who hosts a weekly show on the community radio station WHYS 96.3 in Eau Claire, said he's only missed one festival in the last 18 years -- when he got married last year.

"It's great, quality entertainment," he said.

Mandeville of Chicago said she has been wanting to perform at the festival for years because her father spent his youth in Wausau and her grandmother, Winnifred Gooding, lived on McIndoe Street for 70 years.

She said she thinks she'll be back, too, because the audience called for two encores and gave her a standing ovation.

"My whole thing is making a joyful noise," Mandeville said.

photo by Mike Tatro

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