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Florida Folk Festival primed to thrill crowds this weekend
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| Whitey Markle and The Swamprooters (from left) Michael Goodwin, Markle, Kevin Holloway and Kristen Holloway, first appeared with the Swamprooters at the 1978 Florida Folk Festival. Through the years, Markle and the Swamprooters have developed their own unique musical style called Swampgrass. COURTESY PHOTO |
Three-day event was delayed a year ago by wildfire.
By MICHAEL MITSEFF
mmitseff@lakecityreporter.com
WHITE SPRINGS — The 2008 Florida Folk Festival kicks off opening ceremonies of its three-day, Memorial Day weekend celebration at 10 a.m. Friday on the banks of the Suwannee River.
The annual festival is one of Florida’s oldest folk festivals and will be held in Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs.
The festival will celebrate the state’s cultural heritage through the music, dance, food and crafts reflected in the generations of families and communities who have called Florida home.
In its 56th year, the Florida Folk Festival has brought together more than 200 performers who will deliver more than 300 performances on
16 stages as musically diverse as folk-influenced Celtic music, yodeling and family harmony, Panamanian folkloric dance, traditional old-time folk gospel, high-energy contra dance music and Florida’s all-girl folk music group Patchwork, among many other styles and sounds.
Also, featured performers include Grammy Award winning, Nashville recording artist, Charlie McCoy; songwriter/singer Amy Carol Webb; one-man blues band Ben Prestage; national campus entertainment hall of fame inductee Dell Suggs along with several other well known featured Florida artists who will perform throughout the weekend.
Culinary delights available over the weekend are as varied as the musical performances; everything from homemade beef jerky to Caribbean-influenced dishes of chicken pilau, hoppin’ john, black-eyed peas, okra and tomatoes.
More recent immigrant communities have brought their culinary tastes for warm curries and fragrant rices from Trinidad and light pastries and seasoned lamb from Greece.
During the Folk Festival visitors can also enjoy collard greens and cornbread or a fine plate of fried chicken from the several churches cooking at the Old Marble Stage food shelter.
Sit with the masters in jam sessions, demonstrations and workshops, learn to play the mandolin, tell stories or make a pine-needle basket.
Visitors can learn how to collect family history, call a square dance or discover the importance of native plant and animal species.
Also available is a shopping excursion and visit with Florida’s traditional and contemporary craftsmen and, as the sun sets, settle in for concerts by moonlight or dance the night away at the Heritage Stage.
IF YOU GO
■ Where: Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs
■ When: May 23-25
■ Time: Gates open 8 a.m. daily
■ Tickets: Children under 6, Free; Children 6-16, Weekend: $5; Adults, One day: $25; Adults, Weekend: $50
■ Call (877) 635-3655
The annual festival is one of Florida’s oldest folk festivals and will be held in Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs.
The festival will celebrate the state’s cultural heritage through the music, dance, food and crafts reflected in the generations of families and communities who have called Florida home.
In its 56th year, the Florida Folk Festival has brought together more than 200 performers who will deliver more than 300 performances on
16 stages as musically diverse as folk-influenced Celtic music, yodeling and family harmony, Panamanian folkloric dance, traditional old-time folk gospel, high-energy contra dance music and Florida’s all-girl folk music group Patchwork, among many other styles and sounds.
Also, featured performers include Grammy Award winning, Nashville recording artist, Charlie McCoy; songwriter/singer Amy Carol Webb; one-man blues band Ben Prestage; national campus entertainment hall of fame inductee Dell Suggs along with several other well known featured Florida artists who will perform throughout the weekend.
Culinary delights available over the weekend are as varied as the musical performances; everything from homemade beef jerky to Caribbean-influenced dishes of chicken pilau, hoppin’ john, black-eyed peas, okra and tomatoes.
More recent immigrant communities have brought their culinary tastes for warm curries and fragrant rices from Trinidad and light pastries and seasoned lamb from Greece.
During the Folk Festival visitors can also enjoy collard greens and cornbread or a fine plate of fried chicken from the several churches cooking at the Old Marble Stage food shelter.
Sit with the masters in jam sessions, demonstrations and workshops, learn to play the mandolin, tell stories or make a pine-needle basket.
Visitors can learn how to collect family history, call a square dance or discover the importance of native plant and animal species.
Also available is a shopping excursion and visit with Florida’s traditional and contemporary craftsmen and, as the sun sets, settle in for concerts by moonlight or dance the night away at the Heritage Stage.
IF YOU GO
■ Where: Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs
■ When: May 23-25
■ Time: Gates open 8 a.m. daily
■ Tickets: Children under 6, Free; Children 6-16, Weekend: $5; Adults, One day: $25; Adults, Weekend: $50
■ Call (877) 635-3655
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