FESTIVITIES ADD SUMMERTIME FUN.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: KERI P. MATTOX Staff writer

The people who flocked to Empire State Plaza Saturday afternoon had the blues -- but it was exactly what they wanted.

Susan Tedeschi, Harper and Swamp Yankee were among the early acts for BluesFest, a lineup of free entertainment on two outdoor stages scheduled to play into the night and resume today.

The music filled the plaza and mingled with the sounds of children laughing, their parents singing and vendors hawking everything from curly fries to calzones and compact discs to crystals.

Noisy kids waited their turns on an inflatable slide, while a half-dozen Volkswagens drew a crowd of admiring adults. …