BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION
Folk Fest has brought a world of music to town over last four decades
Local music devotees are celebrating the fact the Edmonton Folk Music Festival is ready to hit a comfortable 40 years this week, but how did it happen?
Ask Terry Wickham, producer for 31 of those years, and you will hear that it’s mostly been about tweaking details and increasing options to find the widest appeal of Edmonton’s music events.
“For me, our organizational philosophy has always been about continuous improvement,” says Wickham.
“It’s incremental, but once it’s good, it stays. Just like starting up Thursday night. I knew that was a keeper from the start because it really improved our financial position.
“And not resting on our laurels, I still think we can be better. The Gallagher Park master plan that’s coming up will probably have one or two more improvements. We’re not going to rest.”
While it was the fourth major folk festival in Canada (after Mariposa, Winnipeg and Vancouver), Wickham argues Edmonton is now considered the best, a world-class event. It does have the largest talent budget of any Canadian folk festival ($1.8 million this year).
Arguably, Wickham’s most enduring contribution was using his banking background to gradually increase the festival’s efficiency, helping ensure financial stability. Then he took that extra cash and devoted it to expanding the festival’s artistic and stylistic breadth.
It took a while to get there.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Researching this anniversary involved a curious trip into a dusty old archive — well, maybe not so dusty. Thanks to the Peel Library at the University of Alberta, all of the festival’s programs are available page by page online (click on “past performers” at the festival website).
It all started back in late 1978 when the provincial government was looking for ways to celebrate Alberta’s 75th anniversary. That’s how both the folk and jazz festivals got their initial seed money.
Check out the first EFMF program and you might be surprised how much of the basic template was there from the start, some of it borrowed from Winnipeg Folk Fest founder Mitch Podolak, some of it improvised. Around 350 volunteers were recruited and some 50 acts were spread over four stages and three days on the city’s eastern outskirts at Gold Bar Park.
The original menu lists “blues, Celtic, ragtime, swing, French Canadian, humour and the unusual,” but in truth the list of over 50 acts leaned overwhelmingly to acoustic singer-songwriters and a few bands, names like Bim (Roy Forbes), Newfoundland’s Figgy Duff, Edmonton’s own Mcdade Family, blues great Odetta, Maritime folk legend Stan Rogers, Stringband, Valdy and, in a nod to”world music,” the Peruvian band Sukay. Add in the MC — CBC’S Peter Gzowski — and a puppet theatre for the kids.
That first festival offered eight workshops on Saturday and Sunday and about 10 mainstage acts each evening, scheduling that would shrink considerably over the years as fewer, longer sets made more sense.
Rogers and Odetta were such hits that they returned for the second festival, which was moved to a more central location at Gallagher Park. Negotiations with Cloverdale residents have kept it along the bottom of Connors Road since, even as the site has grown to encompass seven stages, major kitchen facilities that can feed 3,000 people a day, a beer garden and more.
Rogers returned again in 1982. That third year included Clarence (Gatemouth) Brown, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Utah Phillips and a guitar player named Amos Garrett. Sadly, the program featured Rogers’ eulogy in 1983.
EXPANDING GENRES
Exactly what a folk festival should be was debated from the beginning. Many organizers’ names echo their media connections and a program essay by former Journal staff writer Alan Kellogg notes: “The decision on what constitutes folk music should be left up to the listeners and artists themselves.”
Audiences are still arguing about what a folk festival should be all these years later. Three directors have put their stamp on programming the EFMF.
Don Whalen led things until 1985. Holger Petersen took over from 1986-88, using his connections to highlight blues and southern roots artists. In a similar fashion, Irish-born Wickham has shown a soft spot for acts from Ireland and the U.K. during his stint as producer from 1989 onward.
In truth, they’re only part of the whole story. Vicki Fannon took on the role of volunteer co-ordinator 39 years ago and still holds the post, even as the volunteer pool has grown to some 2,700 this year.
The late Don Snider was an expert site director for over 20 years.
Silvio Dobri headed up communications for a similar period and Barry Storeshaw has been mainstage manager for 25 years.
Wickham is justly proud that the sounds of this festival have expanded in a few directions.
“The first few years I got letters about what we didn’t have and I got
their point, but I couldn’t go on a worldwide shopping spree until we got the finances in order. By about 1991-92, I knew we had a tiger by the tail, but it wasn’t until 1994-95 that we started getting Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello and following it up with k.d. lang, Sinead O’connor, Jackson Browne and headliners like that.
“Then I could say, ‘They’re paying the freight, so lets bring in some African music, Tuvan throat singers and more.’”
Wickham is currently busy finding Indigenous artists, storytellers and dancers to perform.
Every Folk Fest regular has their favourite memories.
In 1993, an Island Records tour package dubbed Africa Fete brought Baaba Maal and Angelique Kidjo to Edmonton for the first time, performing on the first Thursday night. More great names from that continent have followed in their wake, including Salif Keita, Habib Koite and Bassekou Kouyate.
This looks like another strong year for artists from Africa with Dobet Gnahore and J.S. Ondara among those scheduled to appear.
From musical appeal to age appeal to creature comforts, it’s about striking a balance.
“I had a vision for this festival early on and it has outdone that vision,” says Wickham.
“In terms of friendliness and fun and community, I think we’ve outdone ourselves. We’ve tried to get bigger, but still maintain a human touch.”
If there’s a younger look to this year’s Edmonton Folk Music Festival lineup, it stems from seven or eight years ago, when a board member suggested to festival producer Terry Wickham that it would be nice to see more young people coming out for the festival.
“So I said, ‘Let’s book bands that young people like and they will come,’” says Wickham. “They do and they have, from when we started booking people like Ben Howard and others.”
You could add acts like Hozier, Bahamas and Jason Isbell to that demographic this year. Some of those younger, pop-oriented acts have alienated older fans. To be fair, Wickham says he’s booked about half the established names he wanted despite some — like Mark Knopfler, Willie Nelson or Robert Plant — who have skirted his offers.
John Prine’s cancellation this year was a reminder that fewer older established acts are available, Bruce Cockburn notwithstanding.
Aside from a younger lineup, there are some additional changes taking place for the 2019 edition.
The beer tent next to Stage 1 expands this year to hold up to 4,000 folks at a time. Wickham says the festival is still considering a wider licence for the site, but it will be another year or two before that gets sorted out.
It’s also the first Folk Fest following the legalization of cannabis and there will be three designated smoking areas for whatever you smoke — by Stage 1, by Stage 5 and one at the top of the hill.
Pass prices have remained relatively reasonable compared to spectator sports or arena concerts. A young adult pass for patrons aged 18-24 was successful this year. Most weekend passes and single-day passes for Thursday and Saturday are sold out.
And Wickham is still trying to save money in an effort to increase the talent budget.
The festival has owned its own tents for years and now it has bought golf carts, too, because it’s less expensive than renting them.
Celebrating 40 years, the Folk Fest keeps tweaking a winning recipe in an effort to draw new fans and cater to longtime attendees, establishing itself as one of Canada’s preeminent folk festivals.
“I have a long list of people who tell me it’s the best festival they have ever played,” says Wickham, “and in our genre of folk music, I wouldn’t swap this for any other festival.”