By Roger Riddle, Macon-based writer

For 15 years, summer in Macon has been synonymous with Bragg Jam, a music festival that uses multiple stages and venues to celebrate the lives of two local musicians, Brax and Tate Bragg. A tragic car accident in 1999 took the lives of the Bragg brothers and left a hole in Macon’s music scene that friends and fellow musicians believed could only be filled by playing music in their honor. Each year they gathered to remember and share songs, and each year the festival grew. Now Bragg Jam brings roughly 5,000 people to the concert-crawl style festival to enjoy a day filled with music and fun.

Above: The Blind Boys of Alabama performing in Macon at Bragg Jam. Credit: Molly McWilliams.

A recent two-year, $30,000 grant from Knight Foundation helped push Bragg Jam into the ranks of larger music festivals that are able to draw more recognizable acts. The six-time Grammy Award-winning Blind Boys of Alabama became a viable option; in previous years the musicians would have been out of reach.

Knight support enabled organizers “to bring a noteworthy performer with national recognition who aligned with a broader demographic,” said Bragg Jam Entertainment Chair Sean Pritchard, about the most recent festival held late last month.

With a career that spans seven decades, the Blind Boys of Alabama drew a capacity crowd of all ages to the Cox Capitol Theatre. Their 2013 release, “I’ll Find A Way,” was produced by Justin Vernon of the band Bon Iver, making them a recognizable group with young fans of indie music. Previous work with Ben Harper, Jamey Johnson, Phil Collins, Blackalicious, Lou Reed and many others meant there was an appreciation for their music by fans of just about every genre. Most of all, it allowed Bragg Jam to reach a new audience with the festival’s first foray into gospel music.

The crowd loved it. “I thought the Blind Boys brought the house down,” said festivalgoer Dale Hamlin. “Their gospel soaked soul had heads nodding and bodies moving. It was the first time I’ve ever seen people dancing to ‘Amazing Grace.’”

But Bragg Jam is more than a music festival; it’s a nonprofit organization with an all-volunteer board and staff. Organizers said this enables Bragg Jam to donate its profits to projects that help raise Macon’s quality of life.  Over the 15 years of the festival’s existence, Bragg Jam has donated close to $200,000 to the community, supporting organizations such as the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail, Amerson River Park and the Otis Redding Foundation.

In return, businesses, civic groups, and music lovers alike turn out in support of the festival. This year Macon Beer Company debuted their newest seasonal beer, Macon Music IPA, at the Library Ballroom where the stage featured local and regional bluegrass acts. The Streetline drumline treated festivalgoers to a parade down Cherry Street. Crowds of people walked back and forth between the 14 venues, dropping into local businesses or stopping by one of the food trucks when they needed a bite to eat.

Fifteen of the bands on this year’s schedule were Macon-based acts. Bragg Jam’s marketing co-chair, Leila Regan-Porter, believes that placing local acts on the roster with nationally touring bands is good for festivalgoers, the bands and the festival itself.

“Our hope is that people will come for the national acts, but they will get exposed to the music that we put out in middle Georgia,” said Regan-Porter. “We’re really lucky that we have an amazing amount of bands that we can choose from in this city.”

The local bands have a drawing power of their own that Bragg Jam is using to its advantage. Local bluegrass favorite Back City Woods was named the Turner Field Band of the Year and played this year’s Atlanta Braves opening day. Their fans, as well as fans of the other local bands, always turn out in support.

With the attendance of this year’s festival reaching 5,200 attendees – 1000 more than last year – the surge of people into downtown gave the businesses more traffic than they would see on a normal business day or on previous Bragg Jams. Festivalgoer Koryn Young sees this as one of the most important aspects of the festival.

“Bragg Jam brings a diversity that doesn’t always exist,” said Young. “You have many different genres of music bringing out thousands of people to downtown Macon and creating an economic boost that wouldn’t happen if the festival didn’t exist.”