Eleven years ago, when Alonzo Weston and Mark Sheehan co-founded the Coleman Hawkins Jazz Society and decided to organize the first Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival, they didn’t know if it had the potential to become an annual event. And even if it did, they didn’t know how long it would last.

Now, almost every week, they are stopped by strangers and forced to answer questions.

“Everywhere I go, people’s asking 'When’s the festival? Who’s coming?’” Weston says. “That’s a compliment that there’s anticipation that it’s coming.”

Well, people can stop anticipating. The Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival is here. Music begins at 6:30 p.m. tonight and will continue June 20 at 1 p.m. at Coleman Hawkins Park in Felix Street Square at Seventh and Felix.

Both local and national jazz acts will play on the gazebo stage in honor of Coleman Hawkins, the native son of St. Joseph who between the 1920s and 1960s established himself as the father of the tenor sax.

While Hawkins passed away more than 40 years ago, he got a permanent presence in St. Joe last year with the unveiling of the Coleman Hawkins statue in Coleman Hawkins Park, which Weston thinks served as an important cultural moment for our area.

“That said a lot for this city that we finally recognize Mr. Hawkins’ contributions to jazz and what he means to this city,” Weston says.

And as far as the festival is concerned, there’s reason to be thankful that it will still go on as planned. The country’s economic turmoil has caused the cancellation of this year’s Rhythm and Ribs Festival & Jazz Blues and Jazz Festival in Kansas City along with the Coleman Hawkins Legacy Jazz Festival in Topeka, Kan. But thanks to the funds raised at 2008’s Coleman Hawkins Blues Festival (despite poor weather affecting attendance), this year’s Mardi Gras Parade and donations from local citizens and businesses, the 2009 Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival isn’t taking a year off.

“We feel fortunate that we can keep it going this year,” Sheehan says. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and we’re OK today.”

So, since everything is all right, what can people expect? Well, you’ll hear young talent with the Missouri Western State University Midwest All Stars and The Coleman Hawkins All Stars along with a variety of genres of jazz that include the '40s and '50s big band swing from The Ray Alburn Big Band led by Kathleen Holeman and the smooth jazz fusion of Max Groove from Kansas City and Aftergroove from Shawnee, Kan.

In addition to those groups, this year’s Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival will feature a few firsts. It will be the first time the festival will feature Latin jazz with Iowa’s Ashanti Latin Jazz. Weston says it’s “perfect for drinking the mojitos” and Sheehan, who has long wanted to give Latin jazz a spotlight in St. Joe, thinks it will get people moving.

“That’s just a wonderful genre of jazz,” Sheehan says. “It’s summertime and it has kind of a party mood to it.”

This year’s festival also will bring Steve Hall and Friends to the gazebo stage. Hall, 66, is a jazz drummer originally from St. Joe, but he has built his reputation in Kansas City while also playing with legendary jazz singer Marilyn Maye fresh out of high school and touring iconic jazz pianist Stan Kenton and the Glenn Miller Orchestra under the direction of Ray McKinley. Given his résumé, Sheehan never thought Hall would perform in St. Joe.

“My only guess is that we thought he was too big of a hot shot to play for our festival,” he says. “It’s a horrible oversight, but I’ll take the blame for it.”

In fact, it was Hall who came to the festival’s organizers.

“I kept thinking, 'You know, I ought to go down and talk to somebody about that,’” Hall recalls. “This is great playing here. It’s wonderful.”

And if you think the time in between bands will be down time, that changes this year. During breaks between main stage acts on June 20, a smaller “Jamz” stage hosted by Coleman Hawkins Jazz Society member Jack Frost will allow local musicians to keep the live music going. Frost says the stage will have its own P.A. system and drum set. He has already gotten calls from local musicians expressing interest, and while they plan on having a jazz focus, he’s keeping things loose and encourages all musicians to join in.

“If they’ve got basic things and they want to jam a little, they’re welcome. We’d love to have them,” Frost says.

With all of this, there will also be vendors selling Coleman Hawkins merchandise, beer, wine, water, pop, hot dogs and barbecue. Weston thinks all the characteristics of this event, from the outdoor venue and jazz variety to the free admission, peaks everybody’s interest.

“That’s a perfect vehicle to introduce anybody to any kind of music,” Weston says. “Once they get there, they hear something they like and they think 'I didn’t know this was jazz.’”

And even though Coleman Hawkins continues to be a successful St. Joe festival, its organizers aren’t looking at it thinking about dollar signs.

“Our main goal is for everybody to have a good time,” Weston says. “As long we keep that in mind, it’s always going to be a success.”