Olivehurst man wants to hear summer music fest in his town

An Olivehurst man who has observed the simple pleasure of music for the masses on summer evenings in cities from Yuba City to Grass Valley to Elk Grove is asking a question: Why not here?

The answer could come as soon as this summer when Mike Mitchell hopes to drum up enough interest to stage a one-day country/blues music festival in his Yuba County town.

"This is just about getting people together, a fun family event," said Mitchell, who has started a Facebook page to gauge interest and is hoping to establish a web page if there is enough likes. "There's a lot of stuff in the planning still."

Mitchell said he envisions a free concert with the possibility of raising money for local charities.

The tentative site would be the Olivehurst Community Park at Ninth Avenue and Powerline Road; the tentative date, sometime between June and September.

If the event draws people from outside the area, that's fine, he said. "I think it would paint a positive picture for Olivehurst."

Performers would be either locals or acts trying to get their name out, Mitchell said, adding he has made contact with a few possible acts, but he is staying away from big names for cost reasons.

So far, more than a dozen people have given the Facebook page a thumbs up. If he can't get enough interest this year, Mitchell said, he'll shoot for doing it in 2013.

And if the first one, whenever it is, does well, he'll look to making it an annual event.

"I'm getting some support now," Mitchell said. "But I don't know how big, or how small, it'll end up being."