One important factor thought to be behind the decline in patrons is the government’s new alcohol regulations – they effectively stripped picnickers of the right to bring their own alcohol to the event.
The woeful turnout indicates the event’s strong identity -- which has evolved over decades -- as an adult picnic party during which blues and booze are, evidently, inseparable.
“I'm very disappointed with the public, who voted with their feet. Everything went fine and the bands were good, but the concept doesn’t work when the crowd is used to loose alcohol provisions,” lamented Miikka Porkka, the chair of Järvenpää blues and jazz lover’s association Blues-Jazz Diggarit.
According to Porkka, fixed costs have also risen by a quarter in the last four years, meaning that organisers have to come up with something radical if the Blues Festival is to survive the next three years and reach its 40th anniversary. The event’s total losses haven’t yet been tabulated.
Ain't nobody's business…
Onsite at Vanhankylänniemi, the blues train and bus transport was notably sparsely occupied, as information about the policy change had been communicated clearly to the public.
Järvenpää social worker Pirjo Reinikka is disappointed that government regulations are interfering in something she feels has run smoothly for decades.
“I’ve been at the blues since 1992, rain or shine,” she says. “Alcohol has never caused any problems, but BYO wines have been as much part of the event as food and togetherness. Now the authorities are using a cannon to shoot mosquito.”
Thanks to her vocation, Reinikka is all too familiar with the harmful effects of alcohol, however she believes that they picnickers are not the problem. Indeed, she considers having a drink with a good meal notably better rounded, and laudable approach than many other, more problematic alcohol habits.
The spectators who did show up were treated to some enjoyable performances, one of the most memorable of which was Aija Puurtinen’s intense rendition of the Etta James classic I Just Want to Make Love to You.