The 7th annual Boulder Arts, Craft and Jazz Festival kicked off today Saturday May 5th and runs through Sunday May 7. It features music all day from a main stage on the Pearl Street Mall at the court house. Other musicians are spread up and down the mall. There are literally hundreds of arts and crafts tents from one end of the mall to the other. Interspersed are food tents with everything from Mexican, Oriental  to American. It was a beautiful day on Saturday at the festival with a friendly relaxed atmosphere reminiscent of a Boulder old school event. A lot of Boulderites were present with a fine mixture of tourists. This is the big event of the year that kicks off summer in Downtown Boulder. The event is promoted by the folks from the Dickens Store who started the original Bands on the Bricks many years ago They really know how to put on a family event. You don’t want to miss this one because it was not a crush of people who have been drinking all day.  Of course the bars and restaurants are all open on Pearl Street and they were packed with festival goers as well. The theme is early 1969 Woodstock and for those of you who were there, it is all love, peace and music at the The 7th annual Boulder Art and Jazz Festival.  The music is excellent too. Bands played all day today and will start on the stage at 11:00 am til 6:30 pm: see the line up below.  This appears to be the largest authentic music festival in Boulder. There are some others but they  take place in theaters and bars and not on one stage. The Boulder Creek Festival is of course the very largest muical event just 3 weeks away on Memorial Day weekend with  5 music and dance stages. But Sunday afternoon will be the highlight of the festival.   The event is a charity event for Olive Branch a non-prot organization which brings resources and opportunities to widows and orphans in Rwanda and Uganda. They are active in building Orphanages, Medical Clinics and Schools in this country!