Jazzed Up – Music Festival at Shaker Village

Shaker Village hosted a Jazz Festival this year. I love the Shaker property, and I’m also a jazz fan, so it was a good excuse to spend the day here.

I met up with friends on the last Saturday of the summer to listen to jazz. But a late summer weekend in Kentucky means it’s still hot as Hades.

The band stage was set up in a big open field in the middle of Shaker Village.

Being a sunny and warm day, everybody stayed on the fringes of the field under the shade of big oak trees.

Between bands we toured some of the Shaker buildings, which gratefully have been modernized with air conditioning. Ahhhh – cool relief!

Back out into the heat to listen to another jazz band…

Inside the Meeting House, a demonstration of original Shaker music was given. Pretty lively for the 1800’s – not at all like today’s boring church hymns. Shouting, stomping, and clapping were how the Shakers jazzed up their music.

Outside, the afternoon sweltered on…

One last respite of cool inside the old buildings…

By late afternoon, I was roasted like an old Tom turkey. I think I’ll wait until fall before I go to another outdoor concert!