Saturday, June 11 was a prototypical summer day, perfect for hanging out on a lawn, eating ice cream and letting the dogs and kids run wild while the adults listened to music.
The Moose Pavilion is surrounded by lawn, separated from the park road by a ditch that was full of sprinkler and rain water, our “moat,” and another nice 25 foot wide strip of green. The No Nukes North, Peace Center and myself set up our canopies on that lawn. Some other folks were selling Navajo jewelry, and they didn’t have a canopy so they put their tables under the trees at the end of the “moat.” The Hot Licks ice cream folks needed electricity, so they set up their tiny little stand right by the log building that housed the bathrooms. They had something in common with that place, in that sooner or later, everyone availed themselves of both. Considering the near 90 degree heat, I think it was ice cream that kept me from heat stroke!
The stage was a thrown together affair of 2x4s, and a large quilt was tied up behind it to serve as the back of the stage. It stood in front of the Moose Pavilion picnic shelter, where musicians milled around, waiting for their 20 minute set on stage. Lots of solo acts, many bluegrass bands, and three or four Celtic groups entertained.
Everyone who performed volunteered their performance. There was no admission, the entire event was free. Several folks who came to my booth (I was selling flags and Celtic items, see my website http://www.celticandmore.com) told me they couldn’t find their State of Alaska Employee Picnic but were more than happy to go to the folk festival instead!
Somewhere out there a children’s stage existed, and I had friends who performed on it, but I never did find out where it was. All day long I watched children and dogs playing in the water in the moat.
As the afternoon wore on, clouds began to circle, the wind changed several times, and I began to worry about the afternoon rain shower that had been forecast. As of 5, things were still dry. But with my last set on stage due at 8:40, I realized that I’d better pack up the booth before my set so that I wouldn’t be fiddling away and suddenly feel like I had to dash across the moat to save my stock. So away everything went, into plastic boxes and set under the canopy just in case.
Just as we were finishing our set, the clouds bumped together and it began to rain. “Hey,” I told the audience, “How about that? Just like Scotland!”
At the end of the day, event organizerTrudy Heffernan gave her thanks to all those who helped make the Fairbanks Folk Festival possible. “There wasn’t a bad set in the bunch,” she said. I had to agree.
