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Sometime between Friday night and
Saturday morning I decided I would bring my camera along this year with the
intention of creating this Scrapbook Photos webpage. So many people we
talk to are not aware of the festival, or have never attended. Plus,
this year there was a particularly strong Indigenous (Native American)
representation, so it seemed to be a logical choice.
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As already mentioned, one of the
best dynamics of the Great Lakes Folk Festival is it's free. But,
like all things, it costs money to put in on. Beyond corporate
sponsorships, the festival has what it calls its "bucket brigade."
These volunteers come in all shapes, sizes, and ages, from the elegantly
dressed to the colorful. They wander throughout the festival
giving you a "thank you" sticker to don for any amount of money dropped
into one of their buckets in support of the festival. Nobody is
precluded from participating because of tight finances. Donna and
I cannot afford a lot, but we drop a dollar (occasionally a five) here
and there throughout each day of the weekend. The festival's
philosophy strongly parallels those I present through the Center, and
other dynamics represented in this website.
Beyond what you choose to drop
into a bucket, expenses for the weekend are basically what you spend for
food and drink, and for parking. The first years we attended, we
parked in the free outer lots and rode the buses to and from the
festival. This year the cost to take the bus was only twenty-five
cents. However, in 2007, and recent years, we have chosen to park
right by the festival in one of the private lots (it cost us $7 for the
day and the money was being raised by an MSU student for college. The
People's Church also offers parking for a fee).
All in all, the festival can be as
expensive or inexpensive as you choose it to be. We try to support
it as best we can by eating there locally or from a festival food vendor
(lots of options), a purchase of a CD or two, and being as generous as
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So, after Friday evening, what
did we do, see, and hear at this year's festival? Well, on
Saturday we arrived right around noon and caught just a little of
Fiddle Traditions (below left) at the City Hall stage, a gathering of
musicians from several of the groups who discuss and demonstrate their
particular styles. We stayed there only briefly before moving
over to the Legacy stage where a young native fiddler named Keenan Otchingwanigan (below right) was performing. He
is a 14 year old enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian
Reservation in Wisconsin, but lives in the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan. His dad, Earl Otchingwanigan (below center), spoke on
behalf of his son, told stories, and introduced the various pieces
Keenan played for us. Earl was himself scheduled to receive a
Michigan Heritage Award at a different part of the festival for his
lifetime of work as a teacher, instructor of the Ojibwe language,
author on Ojibwe culture, translator, museum consultant, gifted
storyteller, and his canoe making abilities.
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After listening to Keenan (and his
dad), I took a few moments to
snap some pictures of the Folk Arts Marketplace next to the Legacy stage.
"Vendors invited to participate sell authentic traditional arts and related
items. Some artists also demonstrate making their handmade goods in
their booths."
About 1:30 p.m. we wandered back over
to the Valley Court stage to see the African-American Old-Time String Band
called Carolina Chocolate Drops perform. They turned out to be one of
our favorites this year. "The antebellum combination of banjo
and fiddle used to be a tradition in most black rural communities in the
south." This band of three young talented musicians (under the tutelage of
octogenarian fiddler Joe Thompson) is part of a revival of this tradition.
Rhiannon Giddens plays banjo, fiddle, and sings. Justin Robinson also
sings and plays the fiddle, while Dom Flemons plays guitar, banjo, jug,
harmonica, snare, and yes, sings too.
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