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We were lucky about the weather, given the unsettled skies all weekend. Twenty-six years later, the event feels more like a street festival than a music and dance festival, which is fine. The audience is determining what the experience will be. Food from around the world, sidewalk entertainers, storefront buzz,…
Read More »“Lowell Morning” by Richard Marion (c) 2011 See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »Folklorist Maggie Holtzberg of Lowell National Historical Park and the Massachusetts Cultural Council posted many photographs with commentary from the recent Lowell Folk Festival on her blog Keepers of Tradition, which you can find on the rh.com blogroll to the right on the home page. Here’s the connection.
Read More »I second the emotion of the Globe’s Stuart Munro when he writes in today’s review of the Lowell Folk Festival that he was “bowled over” by the surprising performances of the Boston-based Debo Band with guest singers and dancers from Fendika of Ethiopia. Yesterday afternoon at the Dance Pavilion off Dutton Street, Debo…
Read More »My writing colleague Jack McDonough, an occasional contributor to this blog, would say this about last night: “Rain failed to dampen the spirits” of the festival-goers as the 25th annual Lowell Folk Festival rolled through downtown with its cargo of bright music, savory foods, hand-shaped craft objects, bins of joy,…
Read More »1. A success from the beginning, starting with National Folk Festivals as the model in the first three years. The content was high quality, the audiences were large, and the event production was first-rate. It’s always been a work-in-progress with improvements being made as seen and needed. Changes will continue based on…
Read More »Marie posted on the Globe article today about folk festivals in Lowell and Newport, R.I. Here are a couple of more soundbites from the James Reed article: Last year the Steep Canyon Rangers, a bluegrass band that has recorded and been on the road lately with Steve Martin, did double…
Read More »The SUN story this week about performers for the upcoming 25th Lowell Folk Festival sent me to the vault to find a non-web “log” entry before the blog days about the origin of the Festival. I was cultural affairs director of the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission at the time. After…
Read More »Read this Toronto Star report about this month’s celebration of The Beatles in their hometown of Liverpool, England. The events include a special version of the annual Mathew Street Music Festival (Aug. 29-30), which is billed as “Europe’s largest free music festival.” That description should sound familiar to Lowell Folk Festival people,…
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