This is one of oldest and more spectacular
folk festivals in the US. When I was living in California it had
the same reputation among folk musicians as the Woodstock rock
and roll festival had with hippies. It was just a bit too far
to travel to from California though. Years later, after I moved
to the eastern US, I still didn't make it for a number of years,
until 1992. Much to my surprise, I found it to be a lot more like
the Woodstock festival than I had imagined. Highlights:
An incredible tent city of over 10,000 people, with mini "villages."
Within these villages were 20 to 200 friends who had come to the
festival together. Many of these had a central dining and meeting
area surrounded by clusters of smaller sleeping tents. Many have
elaborate decorations, portable electric power, full sets of living
room furniture: couchs, chairs, tables, rugs, etc.
The site is on a private farm, with well water coming up into
clusters of faucets in the middle of the camp. At any time, day
or night, streams of people can be seen making their way down
marked out "streets" with hand drawn carts and wagons
with water containers, fire wood, food, or small children.
One village featured a live rock band, performing with battery
powered amplifiers.
Another village was decorated in psychedelic 60's art, and every
one was wearing tie dye clothes. The average age at this camp
appeared to be late teens, early twenties.
A mini medical center in tents, ala "Mash," with live
television feeds from the main stage a quarter of a mile away.
A firewood vendor with many cords of wood for hundreds of campfires.
Bob McQuillen, the premier contra dance piano player from New
Hampshire, set up camp in his large van, complete with acoustic
piano, and a thirty feet high mast with the state flag of New
Hampshire. We had some good tunes there!
I met a camper in the tent city who had been attending the festival
for 20 years, and had never made it to the main stage to watch
any performers. He preferred the party atmosphere and music in
the campground.
I came across an actual wedding taking place in a grove of trees.
At the sides of the main stage were giant video monitors of the
ongoing performance, similar to those used in large rock concerts.
Because of the large numbers of people in the audience it was
very difficult to get near the stage. I didn't spend much time
at the main stage anyway because it was fun to wander through
the tent city. I did go to listen to Zachary Richard, from Louisiana,
who I had previously heard at Storyville in New Orleans, at the
Jazz and Heritage Festival.
There was a dance stage set up on a hill side but the dancing
surface was rough ground. The music (cajun, Balkan, etc) was good
however, and we made the best of it.
There wasn't as much live music in the tent city as I would have
liked. In fact, I was one of only about 3 or 4 fiddle players
in the entire camp site that I could locate. There were some good
jams at Roger Sprungs camp however. Roger is always up for a tune!
It turns out that most of the hired performers don't stay in the
tent city, but at a nearby hotel, which is where I heard that
the best jamming takes place. At many campsites were portable
boomboxes and stereos playing anything but folk music. Most of
the live music in the camp was modern 60's-80's folk rock on acoustic
guitars. There were also a number of drumming jams with congas,
chanting, and dancing in circles around a fire. One of these late
night sessions featured young ladies in their teens dancing topless
along to a frenzied beat.
I would definitely recommend the tent city experience to any one
with "back to the land," or alternative lifestyle leanings
who doesn't mind getting dusty and living in a tent for several
days. I found the whole thing fascinating. My only reservation
from my point of view, is that there wasn't nearly the amount
of jamming to traditional music as I would have liked. That's
not to say that I didn't do much playing! I did, and in fact found
my accordion very useful for rock and roll jams, and improvisation
sessions. At one point I met up with a sax and clarinet player
and played jazz.