NedFest: The Nederland Music & Arts Festival
NedFest: The Nederland Music & Arts Festival is a two-day outdoor music event located on the shores of Barker Reservoir in the mountains of Nederland, Colorado... just 17 miles west of (3,000 ft above) Boulder. The music featured at NedFest is in the bluegrass, jazz and world-beat genres... or more so, a sound that blends these styles together!!!
Artists who have performed at NedFest in the past include Victor Wooten (the outrageous bass player from Bela Fleck & the Flecktones); Stanley Jordan (jazz guitar legend and innovator of the touch-and-tap technique); Charlie Hunter (who plays a unique 8-string guitar/bass-hybrid); Keller Williams (one-man acoustic loop sensation); Yonder Mountain String Band (Nederland's bluegrass phenomena); Joe Craven (multi-instrumentalist from the David Grisman Quintet); supergroup Garaj Mahal (featuring Kai Eckhardt, Fareed Haque, Alan Hertz & Eric Levy); Robert Walter's 20th Congress; most members of Leftover Salmon; Rob Wasserman; Merl Saunders & his Funky Friends, Skerik & Black Frames, The Motet, The Slip, Vinyl, Tony Furtado & the American Gypsies (w/ Paul McCandless), The Big Wu, Blackdog w/ Cecil 'P-Nut' Daniel, Melvin Seals' Melting Pot, Papa Mali, Shanti Groove, Matt Flinner Quartet, Cabaret Diosa, Benevento/Russo Duo, Pete Wernick & Live Five, Nick & Helen Forester, High on the Hog, Open Road, Hit & Run Bluegrass, ThaMuseMeant, Jaka, Open Road, Hanuman and many more!
The first NedFest happened at Nederland's Chipeta Park in 1996. After a short hiatus it was resurrected during the first weekend of August 1999 at its current site, The Jeff Guercio Memorial Baseball Park, where it has been held ever since. The event has since become the highlight of summer in Nederland!
Five to six bands headline each day, with solo, duo or trio 'tweener sets between each band. There's a limit of 2,000 tickets sold per day, and in addition to two full days of music NedFest also features Arts & Crafts/Merchandise Booths, Food/Beverage Booths, Information Booths and several Service Booths.
The event is organized jointly by two companies. The "Nederland Music & Arts Festival, LLC" is the primary company which handles all bookings, promotions and the infrastructure of the event... while the "Nederland Music Association 501(c)(3)" handles administrative work such as recruiting Volunteers, gathering Sponsors, sponsoring the liquor license, etc.