Maryland Parkway Music Festival to feature bands and spoken-word artists

Music will echo around the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and surrounding areas of Maryland Parkway this weekend, but it will be from sources other than the usual dorm-room boomboxes. More than 40 acts will be featured at three venues as part of the Maryland Parkway Music Festival Friday through Sunday.

Festival founder Roddy Belford said a variety of musical genres will be represented.

"Alternative, blues, spoken-word," Belford said. "We'll have everything, really."

Among the top acts, he noted, are Frontier Ruckus, which has been mentioned favorably by Rolling Stone magazine; the four-time Grammy-nominated Pine Leaf Boys; and Grammy-nominated Cedric Watson.

Performances are free and open to all ages, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Friday and 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Huntridge Circle Park at 1251 S. Maryland Parkway; from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at Sam Ash Music at 2747 S. Maryland Parkway; and from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday on a stage at Harmon Avenue and Maryland Parkway. Festivalgoers may bring blankets and lawn chairs to the park. More details are available at www. MarylandParkwayMusicFestival.com.

It's not an exaggeration to say the festival was years in the making.

"I've had this little bug in my head for about 10 years now," Belford said.

It's just part of a much larger idea, with a long-term goal. Belford, who teaches employment skills by day, has been a music producer for about 20 years. He remembers reading about a decade ago that Michael Saltman, a local attorney and developer, said he thought the area around UNLV should be upgraded to become the cultural center of the city. Belford said Michael Saltman and his son, David, were the driving forces behind the idea of developing a kind of midtown cultural district.

David Saltman, in turn, credits his father and Carol Harter, who was university president at the time, and administrators who have followed as the years passed.

"It kind of really got energized about '04, '05, but was something that was thought about and kicked around for a long time," Saltman said.

As in many things, it might be assumed that the down economy delayed development of the plan. Belford, though, conceded that cultural growth hasn't stalled in the city as a whole.

"In the last couple of years, there's been a lot of emphasis on other areas in town, which is great," he said, mentioning the Arts District and the Fremont East Entertainment District. "But traditionally, in other areas (of the country), the university has been kind of the hub of that."

Saltman agreed.

"There's obviously many examples around the country of cities and communities where the university plays a central role," he said. "Speaking of UNLV in particular, there's a lot of really vibrant students and faculty and administration and staff and exciting ideas and research and arts -- just cutting-edge education and ideas. And particularly on the student side, there's the potential for a real energy and a campus/community feeling."

Saltman noted that while UNLV "has a commuter feel, something we're excited about is the idea of having more of a residential campus, where the students want to stay on campus after their classes, people in the community want to go to the campus to go to restaurants and plays and everything that comes along with that."

Belford is doing his part to try to make that a reality. A graduate of UNLV, he said, "it's been one of my favorite areas since I've lived here -- 37 years. That's pretty much the impetus for why we're doing this."

He said organizers would like to see the festival become an annual event.

"There's a lot of excitement out there over it," he said. Support, he said, has been "tremendous -- especially from the business owners. They can see a direct correlation between people coming to that area, finding them and getting new customers, keeping customers, getting their brand out there."

"I sure hope it's the first of many," Saltman said. "I think there's a real potential for that. Roddy and his team are very good at what they do, and they have a lot of bands lined up and quite a bit of excitement generated. I hope it shines a light on the area."

Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@review journal.com or 702-383-0474.