[2] For many years it was held on the athletic field on the California State University, Long Beach campus.

The festival was organized and used as a fundraiser by KKJZ, a publicly supported radio station on the CSULB campus broadcasting blues and jazz in Southern California.

The Festival grew larger each year, becoming a major fund raising event for KLON.

It went back to the 2-day event in 2001 because CSULB wanted Labor Day to clean up the field for their use in the new school semester.

In 2010, the Blues Festival went on hiatus because of economic conditions and was replaced with a one-day 'Blues Bash', held at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center on the CSULB campus.