Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival
Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival, also known as Red Bank Riverfest, was a free annual music festival held on the first weekend of June in Red Bank, New Jersey. It ran from 1987 to 2016 at Marine Park along the Navesink River and drew about 80,000 to 150,000 people over three days. The event featured multiple stages, with the main Marina Stage plus the Harbor Experience or Riverfront Stage, and later a third stage for local and youth artists. Food and craft vendors lined the festival area near Broad Street.
The festival grew out of the International Food Festival, which had started around 1980. Sponsorship varied over the years. In 2007 Washington Mutual supported the event, and area radio station CD 101.9 was typically involved. After 2008 there was no title sponsor, and organizers warned in 2009 that the festival might not continue; attendance and performer payments were sometimes reduced that year.
In 2010, due to construction in Marine Park, the festival moved inland to Monmouth Park and was called the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Festival. In 2011 the Red Bank Riverfest returned to Marine Park on its traditional weekend, while the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Festival scheduled single-day events in Middletown, Long Branch, and Asbury Park during the summer. The two groups remained separate for several years, and by 2017 Riverfest had ended because costs were too high.
Some well-known headliners over the years included John Pizzarelli, Houston Person, Big Bill Morganfield, Eddie Palmieri, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, and Bernie Worrell and the Woo Warriors.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 06:58 (CET).