The transition from Jazz World to the West Holts Stage happened in 2010 — a year that, digging through old hard drives, clearly lives up to its memory as a scorchingly hot summer. The photos from that time reveal a festival crowd not just ready to soak up the music but also inventively deploying every creative means to find—or fashion—their own patch of shade. We’ll dive into those sun-smart snapshots soon enough, but for now, let’s start here.

That year marked a turning point behind the scenes, with a series of technical upgrades introduced to support our ever-growing audience. The stage itself saw fresh new dressings that added a fresh visual flair, though the much-anticipated side screens were still absent. The evolution was underway, setting the stage for what West Holts would soon become.