Sharon McComb co-founded the city’s Jazz Festival with John Jewell. With $6,000 and six bands – they held the inaugural event in 1996. Each summer since, hundreds have descended onto Watertown to hear cool tunes.

The event expanded over the years. Around 2009, the name was changed to the Watertown Music and Arts Festival to incorporate artisans, rock, rhythm and blues into the festival.

Friends remember McComb as one of the event’s biggest cheerleaders. McComb, a nurse, owned the Watertown Bed and Breakfast and also served on the City Council. McComb passed away in December 2016. She was 74-years-old.

"She started all of this," said John Jewell who heads the current Jazz Fest committee and who worked with Sharon to start the festival back in 1996!