58° and Light rain
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The Niagara Falls Blues Festival might be down to one day but it rocked it Saturday.
Two years ago, I chatted with William Bursee of Steelbound Brewing about his plan for a brewery in the Sheraton Inn and his plan to add a whiskey event to the Blues Festival.
Two years later, his brewery is open and the tasting event was phenomenal. It is great to see someone say they are going to invest in our community and then do it.
$10 admission got attendees a chance to taste from 5 different distillers including a couple new to me including Chris Uyehara of Last Shot Distillery in Skaneateles, Iron Smoke from Fairport and of course Steelbound.
I saw Mayor Bob Restaino purchasing a bottle from Steelbound and taking in the music festival founded by his predecessor Paul Dyster. Restaino laughed and said he agrees with me that the city should have a residency requirement for journalists.
We saw Buckwheat Zydeco Jr, Cleveland’s Backstreet Blues Band and Coco Montoya. All were great.
The festival was moderately crowded. Dyster had on a cool hat as well, lampooning our President. GulF of Mexico, KenneDy Center, Lake Ontario, Kennedy CenTer. It was witty, sophomoric and fun. It was an idyllic event in every way.
