Left In Lowell

The Folk Festival: A Visitor’s View

5 Responses to “The Folk Festival: A Visitor’s View”

1. massmarrier Says:
   July 30th, 2007 at 4:44 pm

   You bet I’ll bet here, Mimi. I must have walked past you hurrying from one venue to another. I’m sorry to have missed you. I had my two younger sons helping me scout for 5th CD campaigners and caught a couple of those though.

   But the music…and the feeling. This is one fabulous festival. I’ve dragged some folk from nearby, like Winchester, who had always meant to go. [Nothing made my late mother pricklier than hearing what you were going to do.]

   Here for three days, the quality is extreme, as is the almost overwhelming choice. This is a commonwealth treasure, well worth a train trip or drive.

   Thanks too for hints on why so few Latinos. I may still ask around. After 10 years in Manhattan, I got used to more mixing and mingling.

   At the risk of crowding myself out of great seats, I’ll keep talking this up.

2. Lynne Says:
   July 31st, 2007 at 1:04 pm

   LOL, I parked at Western Ave…walked in from there. Especially ‘cuz I went Friday night and Saturday, I wasn’t going to pay twice for parking. ;P

3. EaBo Clipper Says:
   August 2nd, 2007 at 10:57 am

   For whatever reasons, many locals don’t seem to attend. That’s easy to tell because of the obvious racial composition at the venues.

   Lowell is a very white town, if not by New Hampshire standards, certainly by Boston ones. The last census reports about 69% non-Latino white, nearly 17% Asian, 14% Latino and only 4% African-American.

   At most venues, there are obviously far fewer than one of 6 Asians and fewer than one of 7 Latinos. I did not notice a single Black man or woman not connected with a band.

   I should ask the organizers what’s up with that.

   WHAT????? Because the ethnic mix wasn’t exactly the same as the residents of Lowell, Lowellians weren’t in attendence?? I am not following the logic of this at all. That’s a pretty broad statement.

   Could it bet that the ethnic makeup of “folk music” festival goers other than Lowellellians tends to be white upper class suburbanites that listen to NPR and WGBH, after all WGBH does sponsor the festival and broadcasts live from Boardinghouse park all day.

   The folk festival has done a great job of getting at least Southeast Asian participants every year, and the food tables are manned by a wide cross section of the community. Although sadly I believe my Quebecois bretheren have foregone a table for a few years.

   I invariably always am away on vacation during festival week, including this year.

   I just think its pretty amazing for an outsider to the city to make blanket statements like that.

   I’ve had an interesting saying for a while now when people ask where I’m from and why I keep up with Lowell politics even though I live in East Boston. “You can take the boy out of Lowell, but you can’t take the Lowell out of the boy.”

   OK back to vacation the seals out the windo at the beach house are calling me.

4. Christopher Says:
   July 26th, 2008 at 5:02 pm

   You make an interesting comment about the definition of “folk”. Maybe it’s because I grew up here and have volunteered for most Lowell Folk Festivals, but I’ve always conjured ethnic imagery before hippie imagery when I hear that word. Same for terms like folk art, folk, dancing, etc.

   I wouldn’t worry too much about the racial/ethnic makeup of the visiting crowd. Afterall, the surrounding suburbs are even whiter than Lowell. Specifically, in terms of African-Americans, that is one group that really isn’t part of Lowell’s story, at least in terms of the immigrant groups working the mills. That was generally European (Yankee, Irish, French-Canadian, Greek, German, Polish, Lithuanian in roughly that order), followed by the Southeast Asians after the 20th century conflicts in that part of the world.

5. sco Says:
   July 27th, 2008 at 7:39 pm

   Went to the festival today and I did not have the same experience as Mike. Seemed like there was a very diverse crowd up there today. Maybe the Lowellians only come out on Sunday.

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