June 28, 2024 3:20 a.m. 

In the KQEN Cultural Spotlight:

The Riverbend Live! concert series begins its 28th season Friday night.

The series was the brainchild of the late Dick Nichols and his wife Mo. After leading the effort to begin Music on the Half Shell in Roseburg a few years earlier, Nichols wanted a second venue in the community where he had lived for decades. The first concerts at Winston’s Riverbend Park started in 1997.

This year’s opening act is award-winning blues saxophone player Vanessa Collier. Recently back from Switzerland and heading to France soon, Collier has only one other date in the western U.S. for the rest of the summer.

This year the series has been expanded to six weeks. Other genres of music to be presented include soul, jazz, big band, and swing. There will also be the annual night featuring cowboy poetry and western music. A youth theater program will be presented as well.

Concert goers can bring a blanket or chair, along with their dinner and either wine or beer. Food and drink vendors will also be on site. The venue is tobacco free. While businesses, foundations and individuals largely fund the series, concert goers can pitch in and help when the buckets are passed at intermission.

Vanessa Collier will take the stage at Riverbend Live! at 7:00 p.m.  Complete information on the series is available at: www.riverbendlive.org.