NORWICH - When the Chenango Blues Fest first kicked-off in the summer of 1993, the event consisted of four bands playing on a Sunday afternoon with maybe 200 people in attendance. Fast-forward 23 years later, and the Chenango Blues Fest is an internationally recognized affair.

The homegrown festival received the Blues Foundation’s top honor earlier this year, and the 24th Chenango Blues Fest is expected to live up to the hype. Thousands of blues fans including the Executive Director of the Blues Foundation himself are expected to flock to the Chenango county fairgrounds for a weekend that promises great music and vibes.

“It was a pretty big honor to win,” said Chenango Blues Association (CBA) President Eric Larsen. “We’re clearly the smallest event to ever receive the honor, so to have them recognize us—we will surely kick things up.”

As the years have gone on, the Chenango Blues Fest has continued to expand incrementally. Notably in 2015, CBA was approached by corporate sponsor NBT Bank with an offer to fund the Summer Concert Series taking place on Thursday nights leading up to the festival. This summer, CBA and NBT have provided the community with free shows every Thursday night throughout July and August.

“We try to make as many things as we can free,” said Larsen. “We really try to make it accessible to everybody and we try to introduce people to a style of music that they might not know much about. Once people become exposed to it, they can become fans.”

Friday night’s show is free to all those who attend, and Saturday is free to anyone 17-and-under. Tickets can be bought in advance for $25 at various businesses listed on the Chenango Blues Fest website, or for $35 at the gate on the day of the show.

Larsen expects some 1,500 people to attend the Friday night show and around 3,000 to attend Saturday. He said, “It’s a good size because we have all the amenities but not so many that you can’t get right up front or be comfortable.”