Dear Friends,
On behalf of the entire student committee, I would like to welcome all of you to the 35th Annual New Jersey Folk Festival! For first time festival goers, we hope you see, experience and enjoy everything our diverse festival has to offer. For our returning participants, we are excited to have you back and we hope you have another fun and memorable day with us this year.
Our festival, in our 35th year, is the largest and oldest continuously held festival of its kind in the state. What makes our festival most unique is that it is entirely student run by twelve undergraduates. The work begins partly in the fall, and then we work full-force as a class through the spring semester under the guidance of the founder and Executive Director, Angus Kress Gillespie, as well as our Associate Director, Erin Clarke.
We showcase the music, food and crafts of many different cultures, with one highlighted culture each year. In the past few years we have explored the culture and traditions of German-Americans, Dominican-Americans, Korean-Americans and Norwegian-Americans, which brings us to our 35th Anniversary year. In this celebration, we will be bringing back many of our old favorites, as well as bringing in some new faces.
We are proud to announce the New Jersey Folk Festival’s 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award which will be given to Jean Ritchie, a dulcimer player and vocalist regarded in the folk community as the “Mother of Folk.” Other performances to look forward to on the Skylands Stage include a kora player from The Gambia, a fiddler from New England, and a rhythm and blues band from Philadelphia.
For a more “hands-on” experience, make sure to stop by the Pinelands Stage for workshops that include “A Tribute to Jean Ritchie: Pinelands Dulcimer Society” or perhaps catch the tribute to Hawaii’s 50th anniversary of statehood with “Salute to Hawaii: Ukulele Club of NJ.” The Shore Stage is where you can find and participate in different jam sessions for Old Time, Irish, and Bluegrass music, and later in the afternoon, winners from our highly competitive Singer-Songwriter Contest will be performing. Our Demonstration Tent is where you can experience and become involved in traditional crafts of different cultures, including pound net fishing traditions from Long Island, early-American crafts from Historic Cold Spring Village and Maritime Traditions showcased by Tuckerton Seaport Museum.
Additionally, don’t miss out on our craft market, where you’ll find one-of-a-kind crafts that are selected based on quality and skill. Follow your nose over to our food vendor area, and surely you’ll find one (or more!) of the 20-plus ethnic food vendors that will satisfy you! Your little ones will be sure to play and explore at our Children’s Area where there are games, crafts and even face painting.
Lastly, I would like to give my sincerest thanks and appreciation to all of our volunteers and to our student staff for making this wonderful event happen each year. For 35 years, this combination of people, hard work, and community has made the New Jersey Folk Festival what it has become today.
Make sure you see and experience all our festival has to offer in this Anniversary celebration, and make sure to come back next year, April 24th 2010 to celebrate our 36th year with the Traditions of the Andes!
Elizabeth Halgash
Festival Manager 2009