George Hoffman was driving towards Chatham this Saturday for a weekend on the Cape when heavy traffic forced him to turn around.

His return path brought him into Onset and he decided to visit Onset beach. While sunning by the bay, Hoffman heard soft notes of music floating down from the Onset Bandshell nearby.

Like a child trailing behind the Pied Piper, Hoffman left the beach.

"I thought I was just going to come over and listen for a little bit, and go back to the beach. But I'm not even going back to the beach," Hoffman said.

Hoffman was enjoying the second Onset Beach Jazz Festival held from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Bandshell under sunny skies on Saturday, July 21.

The festival was founded by Mikelyn Roderick in 2010. The festival was not held last year for financial reasons. This year was its comeback, and it drew visitors from as far away as New York and Texas.

"There are people that have traveled from near and far to be here. Last time it was local," said Robin Mitchell, a friend of Roderick who along with husband Jerome Mitchell helped fundraise for this year's event.

The festival featured the jazz talents of The Kozue Kuriyama Jazz Quartet, The Joaquin Santos Band featuring Evan Cole, The Jazz Thugs, Roderick herself, and various up and coming young singers and musicians from Wareham and the surrounding area.

Roderick calls those up and coming musicians the "voices of the future."

"This is what we're trying to do," said Roderick. "We're trying to develop and get these kids to find their gifts, vocally, and develop them so they can become the artists that you see here this afternoon."

Roderick is helping to develop those gifts by purchasing musical instruments for kids who may otherwise not be able to afford them.

Called Musical Instruments for Middle School Students, or M.I.M.S.S., Wareham Middle School students who win an essay contest in the fall will receive a musical instrument.

Though the festival was free, proceeds from the sale of T-shirts, donations, and other sources will go towards M.I.M.S.S. as well as to paying for the festival.

Roderick herself is a singer.

"Me being in music, I just wanted to give the platform for kids to be able to do the same thing," she said. "Some kids want to participate in the music program but can't because they don't have the instrument."

Visitors avoided the sun-drenched benches in front of the Bandshell and sat on blankets and lawn chairs shaded by trees as they listened to the bands.

"We came because we just heard so much about it and we've just never been here," said Sylvia Barros, who came from Fairhaven with husband Randy Barros.

"And we're glad we did. What a beautiful day. So far the music is great," she said.

Husband and wife Matthew and Beverly Henderson recently moved to the area and came by to check out the festival. They also enjoyed a Beatles revival held at the Bandshell last Wednesday as part of a summer-long concert series called Summer of Love.

"It's nice being in a community that contributes a lot to music," said Matthew Henderson. "It's nice to see a lot of the hustle and bustle going down in the village."

The jazz festival is also a hark back to the good old days when Onset was a popular destination for quality jazz.

"This is a very big jazz town," said Roderick. "Back in the '40s, people came from all over to hear music hear. It was a jazz place."

Many of the visitors to the festival were long-time jazz fans. But the festival may have found a convert in Hoffman.

"I'm not a jazz guy," Hoffman said. "But I'm feeling it, man. I really am feeling it. It's great."

For more information about the festival, visit http://onsetbeachjazzfestival.org/

WarehamVillageSoup will update this story with the amount fundraised as soon as it becomes available.