Canmore's folk fest has come a long way since days of square dancing, lederhosen-wearing school children
by Rob Alexander
The Canmore Folk Festival has come a long way in the past 28 years.
When this folk music festival got its start in 1978 as Heritage Days, it was a much smaller community event held at a one-time horse stable on the west side of Canmore, known as the 'Red Barn' - it was red and it was a barn, after all.
A stage had been set-up on the deck of a flatbed trailer on one end of the grounds, with booths running along the outer edges. At the other end, a smaller stage had been marked out on the ground.
The main stage was for the true performers, the musicians that had been invited; the little stage was set aside, as I recall, for the Canmore elementary school's square dance club, of which I was a one-time and very reluctant member.
How I became a member is still one of the great mysteries of my life. I will contend that my parents or my teacher made that decision for me. It would be too much to bear knowing that I had willingly made the conscious decision at the age of 10 to join a square dance club. If I did, it would have been because I had no idea of my true lack of talent. Simply put, I am hopelessly uncoordinated when it comes to dancing - especially formal dancing.
The Green Fools provide family fun at last year's Canmore Folk Festival.
I'm the one who is either two steps behind everyone else or doing the exact opposite of what I should be doing - a talent unto itself, but not useful nor appreciated when everyone else is trying their hardest and I'm making a mockery of it all.
As a kid I also had a strong dislike of standing out in a crowd and what better way to shout "look at me" than to square dance? (Which, by the way, was not a cool thing to do among the kids of this former coal-mining town.)
My teacher, however, found a way to make it worse: lederhosen.
For whatever reason, again it is still a great mystery, my teacher wanted all the boys in lederhosen - probably pay back for making her life miserable. If we had been doing German inspired folk dancing I could have possibly understood her inclination to stick us in leather shorts complete with their own suspenders.
But we were learning the western style square dancing: the classic do-see-do, allemande right, allemande left and swing your partner.
When we were sent into the change room to try on these lederhosen, something we had never even seen before, I decided that this was too much for me.
I walked out of the change room, handed the leather shorts back to my teacher, looked her squarely in the face and lied.
They don't fit, I said.
Why she believed me is yet another mystery.
But she did, and not having to wear the lederhosen meant I only had to dance one number, much to my eternal relief. The club had two performances lined up for our inaugural performance at Heritage Days. For the second dance we only had to wear blue jeans, white T-shirts and denim vests. Perfectly sensible attire for working-class Canmore.
And of course, on the day of the big performance while everyone else was in perfect synch, I was two steps behind, tripping over my own feet struggling to catch up.
That marked my last real interaction with Heritage Days, now the Folk Fest, which if it had followed my example would have given up after the first year.
Luckily, it did not and it has carried on nicely without me; so well, in fact, it has become internationally renowned with a substantial list of international artists who have graced the stage over the years.
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Ruthie Foster, a hugely popular performer at Canmore Folk Festival last year, sings her heart out.
Today it is Alberta's longest running folk music festival and every year up to 5,000 people file through the gates each day during the three-day event to hear everything from folk music to blues, country, Celtic, bluegrass and world music.
In fact, the folk fest has generated such a good name that over 300 musicians applied to perform for this year alone, while agents representing a number of top names came calling, hoping for a booking.
From that considerable amount of choice, the organizers whittled the list down to include: The Arrogant Worms, Ontario; The Bills, B.C.; Bill Bourne with Eivør Pálsdóttir, Alberta, Faro Island; Alison Brown Quartet, USA; The Clumsy Lovers, B.C., Eliza Giklyson, Texas; John Wort Hannam, Alberta; Carlos del Junco, Ontario; Connie Kaldor, Quebec; Oysterband, United Kingdom and The Wailin' Jennys, Manitoba.
The caliber is such that festival director Ken Rooks said among these performers are numerous Grammy (U.S.) and Juno (Canada) music awards.
"I'm really impressed of the musicianship we are presenting this year," Rooks said.
One of the highlights of the Folk Fest are the sessions - "the heart and soul of the day," Rooks said - each artist takes part in over the three days. As each of the 18 performers have time on the main stage, Rooks said they are not concerned about having to showcase themselves during these sessions. As a result, it's at the informal jam sessions where the magic happens.
"Its some of the best music at the festival if it works right," he said.
"I think that is one of the pleasures. Last year two groups did a 20-minute tribute to the Grateful Dead. You don't plan for it and you put them together and watch them react together. It's quite fascinating to see where they take it."
As it was then back in 1978, the Canmore Folk Fest is still a family event and special care is taken each year to provide events and activities for children.
Renowned Canadian musician Connie Kaldor, who incidentally performed at the first Heritage Days in '78, will make a special presentation of her two Juno winning children's' albums - a Duck in New York City and a Poodle in Paris - just for the kids.
"She's not known to be a kids' performer but she is going to do it here," Rooks said.
Today, the Red Barn is now a daycare and preschool, and the fields are covered in homes, but the spirit of the first Heritage Days is still alive. The Folk Fest truly is a community event, organized by people who have been a part of the community for many years. Most of the volunteers fit into the same category; a few have been around since the beginning too.
"We try to make it a small town mountain community type event. I think it's just the friendliness of the volunteers that make it happen every year that maintain that atmosphere," Rooks said.
To top it off, it is hard to find a better backdrop for a folk festival anywhere. From practically every angle, the Stan Rogers Memorial Stage is framed by mountains. In the evening, as the sun begins to slip behind the peaks and some of the best folk musicians play their heart out, the effect is nothing short of inspiring.
One advantage of having no end of people who want to perform at the Folk Fest means the organizers do not have to bring in the back-up acts: namely, ungainly kids in lederhosen attempting to pull off a square dance.
And I promise, you won't have to see me dance either.
If You Go:
Festival passes run from $25 for a one-day pass to $65 for the three-day pass for adults at the gates, while seniors and youth are $3 and $9 respectively. Children under 5 are free. A pass for Saturday evening is $20 for adults and $3 for seniors and youth. Advance passes for adults are cheaper.
For a full schedule of events and for more ticket information, go to www.canmorefolkfestival.com
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