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Winnipeg Free Press

Everything you need to know as Winnipeg Folk Fest celebrates 50 years

Do you know your Winnipeg Folk Festival ABCs? Winnipeg Folk Festival ● Birds Hill Provincial Park ● Opens tonight, runs to Sunday ● Tickets (weekend pass and single-day) at no tickets are sold at the gate Before heading down to Birds Hill Provincial Park tonight for the opening of the festival's 50th anniversary weekend, get acquainted with its history and quirky traditions — from A to Z. This alphabetic ode was created by staff from the Free Press arts and life department. Some letters were harder than others. (You'll know 'em when you see 'em.) GEORGE DOUKLIAS / FREE PRESS FILES Members of the Fire Pixies perform in the campground at Pope's Hill Stage in 2011. Members of the Fire Pixies perform in the campground at Pope's Hill Stage in 2011. Artistic expression is everywhere at the Winnipeg Folk Festival — in outdoor sculpture gardens, family area crafts, homemade tarp markers and audience attire. The festival campground is also a hotbed of visual art, with campers decorating their weekend homes and animators building interactive installations for others to enjoy. Shout-out to the late great Castle Boys, who created magical campground structures for more than a decade. — Eva Wasney Almost every iteration of the Winnipeg Folk Festival logo has had a banjo in it. The classic logo — two orange hands plucking on a blue banjo — was used from 1975 through the 1980s, and is so iconic it was brought back for the 50th anniversary. In 1993, the banjo took on a more Global Village Coffeehouse esthetic (as was the trend at the time) before it was abandoned for a few years in the mid-2000s for a logo in which the F in folk was stylized to look like an F-hole on a guitar. The banjo made its return in 2010. For the last several years, Juno-winning Winnipeg graphic designer Roberta Landreth has been handling the festival's creative — including the merch and those frame-worthy lineup posters — and the banjo is often playfully incorporated into her designs. — Jen Zoratti She rises again, year after year. A crowd sing-along of the Mary Ellen Carter has been a closing tradition of the festival since 1983, when songwriter and folk legend Stan Rogers died tragically in a fire aboard an Air Canada flight at the age of 33. Sung alongside Wild Mountain Thyme and Amazing Grace during Sunday's mainstage finale, it's a fitting sendoff until the festival rises again next year. — Eva Wasney They're not in it for the recognition, but the hard work of the festival's annual dragonfly volunteer crew hasn't gone unnoticed. The charismatic mosquito-eaters — which can be seen circling above the crowd every evening — have been celebrated over the years in official posters, merch and countless commemorative tattoos. The latter is self-explanatory. Where there's music, there's dancing. — Eva Wasney These are two pieces of equipment you can't forget when packing your daybag, tent or RV. While each individual folk fest experience is about far more than the action onstage, the weekend is truly a music listener's dream. Keep an open mind, and open ears, and you'll be rewarded again and again. — Ben Waldman While definitions of folk have expanded in the interest of diversity and popularity, the Winnipeg Folk Festival has grown while remaining true to its roots. A hub for historic folk legends — such as Richie Havens, Judy Collins, Pete Seeger, Shingoose, Richard Thompson, Earl Scruggs, Joan Baez — generations of younger artists, armed with 'three chords and the truth,' keep the torch burning. Though technically a year late thanks to pandemic-era interruption, 50 is a rare milestone for music festivals of any genre. — Conrad Sweatman JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Birds Hill Park has been the location for the folk fest since its inception. JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Birds Hill Park has been the location for the folk fest since its inception. Birds Hill Provincial Park has been home since Day 1 and the festival's success is thanks in no small part to its idyllic location. To accommodate modern crowds of more than 70,000 people, the festival has made some necessary changes to the site over the past five decades — from new stages to permanent infrastructure to improved amenities. Earlier this week, the provincial government announced $1 million in funding for additional site upgrades and the commemorative renaming of Highway 59 to Volunteer Way in honour of the event's golden anniversary. — Eva Wasney BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS FILES Handmade clothing maker Katya Mycyk sells her wares at the folk festival in 1998. Handmade clothing maker Katya Mycyk sells her wares at the folk festival in 1998. The stages aren't the only places you'll find artists at folk fest. The Hand-Made Village is populated by artisans selling everything from clothing and jewelry to instruments and homewares. This year's village boasts 48 booths to wander through so you can bring home a one-of-a-kind souvenir. — Jen Zoratti WADE ANDREW/FREE PRESS FILES Jolen Galaugher (left) and Sam Decter take shelter from the rain in 1999. Jolen Galaugher (left) and Sam Decter take shelter from the rain in 1999. It wouldn't be folk fest without threats of thunderstorms and extreme heat. Wild summer weather is a hallmark of the outdoor music festival, which has occasionally had to cancel performances due to the elements. Best practice is to pack for every possible meteorological event — sun, rain, sleet, volcanic eruptions, nuclear winter. (See also: Umbrellas). — Eva Wasney A folk fest campground classic is plopping yourself in the middle of a jam session — whether around a campfire or the nightly drum circle atop Pope's Hill. We can't say that 25 bongo-banging partygoers make for polyrhythmic perfection, but it's a rite of passage. — Conrad Sweatman The Chickadee Bigtop is for kids, but also for anyone who can appreciate the empathetic skillset and attention-keeping artistry of a 'children's performer.' On Friday morning, legendary big kid Al Simmons gets the party started with his 14th folk fest appearance. — Ben Waldman Musicians Eric and Martha Nagler had a strange request ahead of their set at the first folk festival. 'I turned to check with Marty and she said with a calm and sober air that she wanted a live chicken on stage,' Eric recalls. 'There was a two-second pause before (fest co-founder Mitch Podolak) said, 'You got it.' The hen arrived during soundcheck and took centre stage when Martha removed the flapping bird from its cage and held it in her arms. Pacing at the front of the stage she sang Rock-a-bye Baby. 'When Marty sang 'cradle and all,' she gently placed the chicken at her feet and stepped away,' Eric says. 'The bird slept, motionless.' — Ben Waldman SUPPLIED Co-founders Mitch Podolak (left) and Ava Kobrinksy Co-founders Mitch Podolak (left) and Ava Kobrinksy Arguably the most prominent figure in the festival's founding, Mitch Podolak was inspired — with his wife Ava Kobrinsky and friend Colin Gorrie — to launch the event with funding from the city's centennial celebration committee in 1974. It was initially considered a one-off, but Podolak looked to the examples of Mariposa and Newport festivals to create an annual gathering. 'He was so committed, as a fan of music, but also as a cultural organizer, and his not-so-secret agenda was to build the culture in Winnipeg, rooted around folk music,' Kevin Nikkel, author of Founding Folks: An Oral History of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, told the Witness to Yesterday podcast. He was artistic director until 1986. Podolak, a dreamer, firebrand and outspoken socialist, died in 2019 at age 71. His partner and co-founder Kobrinsky is this year's recipient of the Glass Banjo Award, the folk festival's highest honour; it will share display space with her Order of Manitoba and Slaight Music Unsung Hero Award for her tireless support of the folk music community. — Jill Wilson The folk fest's annual lineup is always spangled by its fair share of stars from the United States and beyond. But for Canadian and Manitoban artists, the festival has provided 50 years of crucial spotlight. Back in 1974, local artists like Deloraine's Rick Neufeld and Winnipeg's Len Udow took the stage, as did Sackville, N.B's Shirley Eikhard and a man from Toronto surnamed Cavoukian, who had yet to release his debut album as Raffi. Remember to keep an eye out this weekend for the northern lights — such as Basia Bulat, Begonia, Jake Vaadeland, Zrada, Leonard Sumner and Dominique Adams — almost certain to make you proud that the festival lives here, beneath the same Prairie skies, often coloured by aurora borealis. — Ben Waldman You're really not supposed to whine about it. After all, most of the vendors are local and by now we're all used to $10 beers. If hoppy brews that taste like pennies and orange peels aren't your thing (the better the IPA, the more it tastes like grubby copper), there are great local lagers and lighter fare to choose from — and, of course, some excellent diverse cuisine in the line of food stands inside the festival grounds. — Conrad Sweatman This year marks the triumphant return of the bespectacled, bowtied spoken-word artist who has made the most folk fest appearances ever (20!) and who graced the stage of the very first event. The delightful denizen of Denman Island, B.C., now 73, is known for his unlikely call-and-response poem Dairy Products and for the participatory piece Prairie Flower. — Jill Wilson Blisters, sunburns and bug bites are par for the course. Other quintessential (and far more enjoyable) festival experiences include running into friends you see once a year, discovering a favourite new band and napping in the shade while music wafts about. And don't forget to indulge in a sweet little treat — highlights include fresh-squeezed lemonade from Lemon Heaven, a giant tube of popcorn from Gramma's Kettle Corn and piping hot dough dusted in cinnamon and sugar from Whales Tails (RIP). — Eva Wasney BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS FILES Folk fest fans enjoy the sightlines afforded by the de rigueur short chairs. Folk fest fans enjoy the sightlines afforded by the de rigueur short chairs. Listen, we all love dancing, but sometimes your feet hurt and you just want to sit down, and the fact that folk fest allows you to BYOC (bring your own chair) is a true gift when your dogs are barking. And the chairs most people bring are Folk Fest Chairs a.k.a. low camping or beach chairs. Or, if you're a veteran fest goer, you may even still have a wooden Mad Nomad chair kicking around. Sure, there's no elegant way to get out of these bad boys, but their low profile means everyone can see. To that end, there's some etiquette involved. Per the Winnipeg Folk Fest website: 'Chairs no taller than two feet and 8'x10' tarps are welcome in the seating area. Chairs taller than two feet and wheelchairs go to the left of the centre seating area.' — Jen Zoratti Salute the chief. Folk festival relies heavily on volunteers and the same goes for festival security, who strike that tricky balance between fun and order. An extra medal for the sentinels who fly around on golf carts, between the campground's two barriers, flushing out interlopers sneaking in for a night of cavorting under the moon. Hopefully, the captured haven't missed the last bus home. They can always lie down until sunrise in a nearby field with the stars to look up at and the crickets and wind to serenade them. — Conrad Sweatman BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Folk Festival early birds take part in the tarp shuffle, an annual tradition for attendees to secure a spot close to the mainstage for evening performances. Winnipeg Folk Festival early birds take part in the tarp shuffle, an annual tradition for attendees to secure a spot close to the mainstage for evening performances. You may not run. You may not jog. You may skip, speed-walk or move at an otherwise reasonable pace once the tarp shuffle commences. A quirky form of organized chaos (which replaced the previous free-for-all real chaos), the tarp shuffle determines the seating arrangement for the evening's main stage concert. Participants are given tickets 10 minutes prior to the gate opening (although many start queuing hours earlier) and are sent out in waves to claim their spot in front of the stage. — Eva Wasney It's raining sun. Scalding ultraviolet rays that turn you pink and red after just 15 minutes of exposure. So, before you boil like a lobster, lather up with the Coppertone and take shade under an umbrella on the little tarped spot you've made for yourself at Main Stage or Big Bluestem. — Conrad Sweatman KEN GIGLIOTTI / FREE PRESS FILES Folk fest volunteers Jeanne Harrison (left) and Denise de Decker in 2014 Folk fest volunteers Jeanne Harrison (left) and Denise de Decker in 2014 Say thank you to your festival volunteers, because the whole weekend would go kaput without them. You won't get to meet the nearly 3,000 helpers who spend more than 60,000 hours each year making the music sound good, sorting the recyclables, building the stages and cleaning the grounds up when you go home, so be sure to be grateful for the festival's unsung heroes, who've been keeping the engine running for 10, 20, 30, 40 and even 50 years. — Ben Waldman Folk fest is all about musical discovery, and the best place to do that is at the daytime workshops. A festival fixture and one of the things that makes it so special, workshops bring together groups of artists who might not ordinarily share the stage and offer them a chance to jam with, riff off of, or just play alongside each other. Some real magic can happen during workshops; these are one-gig-only, never-will-be-repeated performances, and are truly one of the best parts of the fest. — Jen Zoratti Remember when Xavier Rudd performed at every single folk fest during the 2000s? At least it seemed that way. The blond, shirtless Aussie and his didgeridoo quickly became a festival favourite, with four appearances between 2004 and 2013. Rudd joins a long list of Australian musicians to make waves in Winnipeg; among them the Cat Empire, who will be headlining for a fourth time this weekend. — Eva Wasney Before they played the festival's bigger stages, relaxed-pace local favourites such as Slow Leaves and Slow Spirit found their voices in the Young Performers Program, a mentorship culminating with group performances Saturday afternoon at Shady Grove. This year, mentors Bulat, Jaxon Haldane, Leyla McCalla, Sam Brookes, Erin Power and Duane Andrews pay it forward to over 30 artists aged 13 to 24, including Winnipeg songwriter Karina Joy, New Brunswick folk-singer Freya Milliken and the Charleswood-Wolseley blues-rock project Wheelhorse. — Ben Waldman Here's a notion: stock up on beverages and set up your tent near Pope's Hill, far from the tree canopy. Then by Day 2, wonder why all the peace and love has drained from your body. It's a mistake made by many a first-time camper. You have to put boring things in your body too: think water, nutrients and REM cycles. Having a festival experience that's more Woodstock than Fyre Fest depends on you taking care of yourself too, and that starts with catching some ZZZs. — Conrad Sweatman Eva WasneyReporter Eva Wasney is an award-winning journalist who approaches every story with curiosity and care. Read full biography Jen ZorattiColumnist Jen Zoratti is a Winnipeg Free Press columnist and feature writer, working in the Arts & Life department. Read full biography Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Read full biography Ben WaldmanReporter Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Read full biography Jill WilsonArts & Life editor Jill Wilson started working at the Free Press in 2003 as a copy editor for the entertainment section. 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