The Taming of a Wild West Town by an Editorial and a Group of Dedicated Jazz Fans.
The Coleman Hawkins Jazz Society got its start in the late summer of
1998 with a touch of whine without cheese. St. Joseph News-Press columnist Alonzo Weston left that year's Trails West! Festival lamenting the fact that every St. Joseph festival had something to do with the Old West or a famous bank robber. Why couldn't Joetown find something or someone to celebrate that adds a touch of class to this fine city?

Then Editorial Page Editor Mark Sheehan of the same paper followed with a column that suggested St. Joseph would do well to celebrate the historic life of Coleman Hawkins, a bona fide jazz legend and Joetown native. The column included a challenge for all takers to show up at the News-Press on the next Saturday to start work on the festival.

Alonzo's lament worked better than anyone could have expected. More than 30 jazz fans showed up for the first meeting and immediately began work on the group's first mini-festival that November. Success bred more energy and soon the new jazz society was working on the first official June jazz festival for 1999.
  The Coleman Hawkins Jazz Society has grown in numbers and projects. In addition to the June festival, the group sponsors a Mardi Gras Parade that raises money to help keep the Festival free. An added fall Blues Festival has become a great success. The society also sponsors a Coleman Hawkins All-StarJazz Band of high school students from the St.
  Joseph area who take the stage during the Festival. Also taking advantage of the venue are the high school students who attend a week-long band camp at MWSU.

Most recently, the society erected an 8-foot tall bronze statue of Coleman Hawkins beside the gazebo stage. In turn, the City has renamed the area Coleman Hawkins Park.

The Coleman Hawkins Jazz Society welcomes all new members. You can get more information by emailing