09/15/2026
25 YEARS. ONE SELBY AVENUE. SO MANY PEOPLE TO THANK. ❤️🎷
The 25th Annual Selby Avenue JazzFest is in the books, and we’re still taking it all in.
What started in 2002 with Mychael and Stephanie Wright has grown into one of Saint Paul’s great community celebrations — a day built around music, culture, neighborhood, and the people who continue to show up for Selby Avenue and the Rondo community.
To every musician who took the stage or marched down Selby — thank you. The Selby Avenue Brass Band, the second line dancers, Walker|West Faculty X-tet, Minnesota State Band, David Feily, Mississippi, and our headliner Stokley— you brought the music and the energy that make this festival what it is.
To the artists, makers, food vendors, Marketplace vendors and everyone who spent the day sharing what they do — thank you for filling Selby Avenue with so much creativity and life.
To our sponsors, partners, grantors, media partners and community organizations — thank you for believing in this festival and helping make a free, community-centered celebration possible.
To the volunteers, staff, stage crew, sound team, security, city crews, neighbors and all the people working behind the scenes — much of what you do happens quietly, but this festival simply doesn’t happen without you.
And to Walker West Music Academy — thank you for continuing to carry this festival forward and for making your home part of the celebration, from the main festival to the JazzFest Jam Session that kept the music going into the night.
Most of all, thank you to everyone who came.
So many people have gathered for this festival over the years, and every person who danced, listened, ate, shopped, sang along, brought their kids, brought a friend, joined the parade, played a horn, or simply spent a Saturday on Selby Avenue became part of its story.
And thank you to Mychael and Stephanie Wright for starting this beautiful thing 25 years ago.
We’ll see you next year.
*Shoutout to Levitt Family Foundation for their support of the Selby Avenue Jazz Fest! A social impact funder at the intersection of music, public space and community building, Levitt Family Foundation supports changemakers and nonprofits nationwide to build healthy, connected, and thriving communities by making live music accessible and bringing people of all ages and backgrounds together. Learn more: levitt.org
The JazzFest is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Fund.
The JazzFest is funded in part by the Minnesota Humanities Center with money from the Arts and Cultural Fund that was created with the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
And the JazzFest is supported, in part, by the City of St. Paul Cultural Sales Tax Revitalization Program.
