There was no lack of artistic talent Saturday at Bakersfield’s first Rock and Country Music and Art Festival. The line-up of artists included not only popular Grammy winners like LeAnn Rimes and Asleep at the Wheel, but also local and more obscure talents such as The Majestic. But the virtuoso wasn’t limited to music. While the bands present played on seven stages, photographers, painters, and sculptors displayed their work to the passersby who stopped to muse and purchase them. There were also food vendors present that filled the fairgrounds with the bold smell of roasted meats, garlic fries, and sweet popcorn.
A cluster of unenthusiastic members from the USC marching band kicked off the musical events of the day. To the snap of a single snare drum, the fart and bellow of the brass, the members jived half-heartedly in their burgundy uniforms, spinning and missing each other’s high fives while playing USC’s traditional fighting song and renditions of popular songs like Pharrell William’s “Happy.” There was even a horse with a faux Trojan soldier for spectators to have their photograph taken next to.
“It’s a great venue,” said Carol Miller, who travelled from Tehachapi to see country artist LeAnn Rimes. “It’s a great day. It’s beautiful out here.”
But from then on only the confused and distorted sound of rock and the twang of country filled the air as the seven bands took stage.
Brandon Martin, a 38-year-old communications director for the Rock and Country Music and Art Festival, commented on the intrigue and importance of having a festival here in Bakersfield.
“I grew up in Bakersfield, and then I left to practice law in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara,” said Martin. “I even did some time in Washington D. C. And wherever I would go people would say ‘Bakersfield, oh, like the country music.’…sort of a little Nashville-Bakersfield reference. People all over the country knew that and then over the years I watched as other communities launched top country music festivals that draw in people from all over the country and that is something that should really happen here because of our musical heritage which involves Buck Owens, Red Simpson, the Bakersfield sound. So as time was passing this is something that we’ve been wanting to do for a long time and we thought this was the year to make it a reality.”
He noted that spectators had come not only from across the state line, from states like Washington, Indiana, and Illinois, but also from overseas, mentioning that four people from the United Kingdom were present at the event.
“This is terrific,” Martin said. “All of these people have never been to Bakersfield before. They’re going to come here. They’re going to discover…we got our artists on display, they going to interact with our community and see were good people and go out and tell the world that Bakersfield is a great place.”
Aside from the sun that bore down on the spectators, the only problem the event seemed to pose was choosing amongst the venues and finding the way to get there.
“We’re having a blast,” said Lisa Cerro, a Bakersfield resident who came to the event with her husband Philip.
Philip added that, “It’s been a little hard to figure out where the stage is located and whatnot, but we’ve made the rounds and got everything located and situated and were going to the Legends stage for a while to listen to Mitch Rider.”
