You read that right: a hot pink bra.
These items up high on poles could be seen everywhere you look at the 31st annual Bayfront Blues Festival and they were chair markers for festival-goers, to make it easier to find their chair.
Whereas most markers were just windsocks and pinwheels, Swede and Brenda Larson, of Silver Bay, had a unique one. It was a small dog house that said “House of Blues” on the side with Jake and Elwood, the Blues Brothers, sticking out of the front.
“We use to have a flamingo, but everyone had a flamingo so we decided to make a new one,” Swede Larson said Saturday afternoon while sitting and listening to Crow on the main stage wearing a dark Hawaiian style shirt with a row of beer bottles on it.
Swede Larson said he and his wife use to attend the festival with a group of couples every year for many years.
“We started talking and since us guys were always in the dog house, we decided to make one,” he said.
The blue small dog house was made by the men out of wood and the wives make the Jake and Elwood out of felt and old nylon, Brenda Larson said. The chair marker doesn’t just help the Larsons find their chairs, but others around them as well.
“We took it down early yesterday and a lady that sitting near us was mad because she couldn’t find her seat,” Larson said.
As for the man with the bra chair marker, when asked if there was a story behind it, the man said “Nope.” Well, at least one he wasn’t willing to share with the newspaper.
The sun was shining and the music was rocking on the shore of Lake Superior. People enjoyed music under the big top tent as Jack Knife and the Sharps rocked out barefoot on stage around 3 p.m. After the band’s set ended everyone filtered out and headed for the main stage and Crow began their set around 4 p.m.
Sitting near the back of the festival off to the side were Connie and Dirk Lutz. They have been attending the Bayfront Blues Festival for more than 25 years.
“Back then kids were running around playing, now we’re here with walkers,” Connie Lutz joked.
Connie Lutz was crocheting while enjoying the music and the lovely day, even though she said they were a little disappointed that the Allman Betts Band had to cancel their set due to Devon Allman having a medical emergency.
“But you can’t ask for a better day,” Connie Lutz said Saturday afternoon.
The festival continues Sunday, but as an added bonus, the gates will open two hours early at 9 a.m. so ticket holders can come early and enjoy the Festival of Sail‘s Parade of Sail. The Bayfront Festival Park lots will only be open for Bayfront Blues Festival ticket holders on Sunday.
The Festival of Sail, formerly named Tall Ships Festival, begins at 9 a.m. Sunday and stretches along the waterfront from the Great Lakes Aquarium to the Aerial Lift Bridge.