RE: Lowell Folk Festival

[Roger Kirk <rkirk@videoserver.com>]

Donna Halper wrote:

<<snip>(smaller crowds yesterday than expected, I was told-- there were   
not <as many people for the festival as in years past) </snip>
<<snip>It was was always a fine way to spend the day-- I wonder why
<attendance was down...   </snip>

I forwarded your post(s) to a friend of mine, who always used to go to   
the festival every year, and asked him for his comments.  His reply:

We've gone for the past 3 years, but skipped it this year, for three   
reasons.

1.  Been there, done that.  Events like that seem to have a predictable
    life cycle.  They start small and people work hard, word spreads and
    they get big.  They enjoy a period of greatness.  They begin to   
coast.
    After awhile, people realize there is nothing they haven't already
    seen and they begin to drift away.

2. A couple of weeks ago, the Lowell Sun ran a few stories that asked
   "What's up with the Folk Fest?"  They pointed out that, unlike past
   years, there had been no info. released about schedules, performers,
   crafts displays, etc.  The paper questioned whether the (new?) people
   running things were going to be able to pull it together in time.
   When the schedule was released, there were no performers I had ever
   heard of.  It smacked of a last minute panic job.

3. It was brutally hot both days of the weekend.  When it is brutally
   hot in southern NH, you don't want to be walking around downtown   
Lowell.
   I have been to the fest in the heat before and don't care to do it   
again.

Roger Kirk a.k.a. The Wizard Of Music
rkirk@videoserver.com

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