This year’s Volksfest offers up some local celebrity watching when the WCCO Blues Band plays Friday, Aug. 18, under the big tent in downtown Victoria.

The WCCO Blues Band includes well-known retired WCCO anchor and I-Team reporter Don Shelby and MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner, a former WCCO meteorologist.

The WCCO Blues Band is no stranger to Victoria, having played occasional gigs at Floyd’s Bar. 

It’s all part of this year’s Volksfest to simplify, but at the same time promote local musicians, local business, even local beer.

Laura O’Neill, Volksfest co-chair, is excited about the live music offerings. “Jason Paulson is from Waconia. Sonically Speaking is from Chaska, and we’ve got the Minnesota Valley Community Band,” O’Neill said. “And Joe Scott’s band (The Losers) plays on Saturday.”

Scott, of Chaska has a business in Chanhassen, and is a member of the VBA. He co-chairs this year’s Volksfest with O’Neill. With his music background, he’s been in charge of Volksfest entertainment for several years. 

RANDOM GUY

When creating the live music lineup, Scott wanted to promote local bands with local followings at Volksfest. And, he thought of the WCCO band.

The music community is a small one, and eventually everyone meets everyone and jams together at some point.

A few years ago, Scott’s band was playing a gig at the Bayside Grill in Excelsior. During a break, a “random guy” started talking to Scott. Learning the guy played blues guitar, Scott invited him to play with the band. And that’s how he met Huttner.

Scott knows Shelby through several charities they both support, and knew the WCCO Blues Band did occasional gigs around the Twin Cities.

‘LIKE TEENAGERS’

The WCCO Blues Band got started in the 1980s, made up of, as Don Shelby describes, former teens who had dreamed of being rock and roll stars, but instead grew up to become reporters, photographers, writers, videographers, and TV anchorpeople.

“But everyone kept their instruments,” Shelby said in a phone interview. I started noticing a large number of (WCCO) staff played or sang. And each had a desire to get a band together.”

The former teen wannabes kept getting together to practice, and got better and better. 

“And we started adding people,” Shelby said. “We started out with five. The second year we added a sax. We’re now around 12-15 and we’ve got a horn section. Some of us are now over 70, but we play and perform like teenagers.”

The band used to be a blues-only group, but as younger members have joined over the years, the group has broadened its repertoire.

“We’ve got a great band,” Shelby said, “for being a bunch of old farts who play infrequently.”