WOODSTOCK The Woodstock Jazz Festival, celebrating its 10th year, offered a plethora of opportunities for community members to enjoy the music, including an outdoor concert Saturday morning.

Every time we do the free portion during the morning with the farmers market, its just a sea of people sitting, jazzing up with their neighbors and listening to some great music, Jazz on the Square President Bryan Kyrouac said before the event.

Jazz on the Square hosts the festival along with regular jazz jams in Woodstock. The weekend-long festival sought to celebrate music that captures the spirit of humanity, along with the people who first brought it to town a decade ago. Events took place Friday and Saturday in and around the Woodstock Square.

The jazzing up was not only limited to Woodstock residents, either. People from across McHenry County took advantage of the free concert on a sunny Saturday morning. Jazz listeners young and old relaxed around the Square and shopped the weekly farmers market, which had everything from pet treats to handmade jewelry.

Woodstock resident Ally Tessler comes to the farmers market weekly to buy fresh produce, but she said she was enjoying the live music, too.

The fest attracted loyal attendees and first-time visitors. Sarah Schroeder of Harvard said she had never been to the event before Saturday, and she heard about it online.

It sounded like something fun to do on a Saturday, Schroeder said. We brought some lunch, and were looking forward to relaxing.

McHenry residents Sherry and Melanie Henning, on the other hand, have come to the fest four or five times. They said there always is a wide variety of artists and music, but they enjoy the people and atmosphere the festival brings the most.

Music and nature does the soul great, Melanie Henning said. It keeps you grounded.

Sherry Henning said she liked that the gathering was not too far from her McHenry home.

Its so nice you can have it locally and not have to travel into the city, she said.

Janet Viverito was selling blueberries with Roedger Bros. Blueberries just off the Square, and she said jazz festival weekend is one of her favorite weekends of the outdoor farmers market season. She said it brings new and different customers and breaks up her workday.

Its been busy, Viverito said. I look forward to this every year. Its nice to work and hear the music.

Kyrouac said Jazz on the Square wanted to make this years festival bigger and grander to honor the events founders. Through the years, the festival, jams and other events hosted by Jazz on the Square not only have provided a venue for entertainment, but an outlet for young musicians as well.

Through suggested donations at the door of Stage Left Caf jams, the group has been able to give scholarships to aspiring young jazz musicians to attend summer jazz education camps at leading Illinois universities.

We really encourage middle and high school students to get the experience of jamming in front of a live audience, Jazz on the Square board member Bruce Lane said. Its been really rewarding to watch them grow and move forward.

A group of those young musicians even opened for the festivals headliner Jamey Aebersold, a world-renown jazz educator and saxophonist Saturday night.

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10th annual Woodstock Jazz Festival offers soundtrack to weekly farmers market - Northwest Herald