special section / By Maia Cheli-Colando

30th Humboldt Folklife Festival

Sat., July 19 - Sat., July 26, 2008

(July 17, 2008)  In its 30th year, the Humboldt Folklife Society’s annual summer music festival has grown to eight days — four evening concerts, two dances and two admission-free daytime events. That many shows usually brings to mind touring artists (and high ticket prices) but it is Humboldt’s own musicians who fuel the labor of love that began 30 years ago at Fickle Hill’s Lazy L Ranch.

Founding Folklifer Susan Anderson recalls that the Lazy L had a facade-front western town, and that the stage was an old flatbed horse-drawn wagon. The dance hall was “a classic ‘Tiltin’ Hilton’ … the floor sloped significantly, and by the end of any given dance all the dancers were pressed into a pack in the lower end of the hall.”

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In spite of (or because of) the tilts, the first event succeeded, and over time the Society grew to encompass not only an annual festival but concerts, song circles, pickin’ jams and weekly dance meets. It was a gift, Anderson says, “to ourselves (well, we did it because we wanted something here that we couldn’t find), to our kids (none of them in existence yet, of course), and to the community (hopefully).” It has remained a community-driven organization, with a large volunteer team putting in hundreds of hours to “make music accessible to everyone of all ages.”

Maggie Gainer is one of the many to have raised children in Folklife. Gainer feels that “HFS and the festival have helped to make fine folk music one of the defining characteristics of this region. It is part of the Redwood Coast’s regional flavor. After 30 years, the festival and HFS is integral to the community … It’s as much about Humboldt family life as about Humboldt folk life.” In the folk world, music and family often become synonymous, as they have for Gainer: “This is where my husband and I first got to know each other. This is where we were proud to show off our new baby. Our rural region is so fortunate to have such high caliber musicians living amongst us … we tend to take them for granted. The festival really helps to elevate their profile and celebrate their musicianship once a year.”

Indeed, Humboldt’s soaring proportion of musicians per capita means that Folklife can run a strong week-long Festival on local talent alone. Songwriter Eileen Hemphill-Haley notes that before moving to Humboldt, “Every other festival I had ever participated in always focused on bringing in acts from out of town, and invariably local performers — no matter how good they are! — were usually left off the bill. The Humboldt Folklife Society has turned its festival into a celebration of the arts in its own community. What a concept!”

That fusion of music and community seems to be what keeps the Society in perpetual motion. These days, a collaboration with Dell’Arte and the Blue Lake Chamber of Commerce incorporates Folklife as the finale of the Mad River Festival. (The dances are hosted offsite, in Arcata and Bayside.) Over the course of the week, hundreds of musicians and music lovers gather in Blue Lake to play, learn, listen and jam.

This year’s Festival starts Saturday, July 19, with a Swing Dance at Arcata’s Veteran’s Hall. Sunday, it’s out to Blue Lake’s Perigot Park for the Annie & Mary Day Fiddle Festival, which gives way to Dell’Arte’s raucous Blue Lake Pageant. Monday through Thursday are concert nights at Dell’Arte — Flying Fingers, Acoustic Jazz, Songwriters and Backyard Bluegrass & Beyond. On Friday the crew travels to the Bayside Grange for an Old Time Dance of contras, country and southern squares. On Saturday the 26th, Folklife pulls out all the stops with two stages, jam sessions and music and dance workshops for kids and adults, running from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Alma’s Tacos, Sushi Agogo and Mocha Motion drive out to Blue Lake for the day, so between the wagons and Dell’Arte concessionaires, nourishment is readily available.)

HFS President Patrick Cleary says, “I think it is the workshops and jams that are the most important part of the Festival.” The Society encourages everyone to try something new over the course of the week. Although the Festival showcases local skill, for the Folklife crowd, it’s ultimately about getting everyone to pick, sing or dance. As multi-instrumentalist Mike McLaren says, “Folk and blues … it’s not how you play it, you just need to play it.”

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