Early festivals (before 1974) were held on the "Fuller Flats" an open area on the north side of Fuller Road and just west of Huron High School. (It had been a medical waste dump site before the school was built) In 1972 the area became the Otis Spann Memorial Field when Muddy Waters presented a plaque to Spann's widow that read "The people of Ann Arbor Michigan in recognition of the talent, the genius of the late Otis Spann, sweet giant of the Blues, formally dedicate the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, 1972 in the grounds upon which it stands to the memory of this great artist."