CALGARY FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL BLOG

CBC Music and the CFMF want to fly you to the festival!

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 13:58:31 +0000

The lovely folks at CBC Music are pairing up with the Calgary Folk Music Festival to get you and a friend to Calgary!

..But you're going to have to work for it.

We're giving away 4-day festival passes plus airfare and accomodation for two, flying from anywhere in Canada. The contest opens June 15 at 4pm ET/1pm PT and closes July 4 at midnight PT.

The winner will be announced on CBC Radio 3 on July 6.

Here's what you have to do to win: we need your help to build this year's festival dream set list. Who are you excited to see perform and what song should they sing?

There are two ways to enter the contest:

Follow this link to the contest entry page and leave your entry in the comment section
tweet your suggestions with the hashtag #DreamSetList

Good luck and we hope to see you in Calgary at the end of July!

Poet Laureate Kris Demeanor's "The Brink"

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:10:51 +0000

As part of our launch, Kris Demeanor wrote and performed a re-imagining of the Calgary Folk Festival in a dystopian present day...

The Brink by Kris Demeanor

It’s almost like there’s something wrong
No brooding cloud
The cottonwood fluff is spelling out no warning in its slow motion drift
But it’s as though everyone is that gloomy drunk
Like they were almost in the clear and then the car went into the shop
Like there’s an important party that they have an invitation to and can’t find
Like the family home has been looted and they know it’s someone in the area
The island, so long the refuge, is the brink
In the buskers’ guitar cases are signs: “No thanks”, their strings rabbit snares, their plectrums tiddly winks
Seniors are trading jewellery for scalped tickets
The decible meter reader is employed by Blackwater Security Consulting
Honey Bear turns Honey Badger
There is a quaver in Samantha’s savagery
Corb’s band is told there will be no beer jugs or Jack Daniels on stage, and there isn’t
Cockburn is duped into eating chunks of Amazonian porpoise meat with Sarawakan rosewood chopsticks
The golden tarp is stolen, cut into small squares, and sold to on line collectors as experience
Sexsmith suddenly and inexplicably smiles
KD and Cohen terminate the affair
Berner concedes the high ground to the rich
Kristoffersson lets the bastards get him down
Dar is lost to February
Billy Bryans is gone
Laura Leif still doesn’t move back
Matheson wears that grindstone down, but not before being driven out of town
Blue Rodeo plays the hits
Iron and Wine go electric
Beirut’s gear re-routed to Whitehorse
The Rural Alberta Advantage is shut out due to strategic voting
DFE go full gangster
Butter Chicken sells out, replaced by margarine goose
Tom Waits finally comes, but once here, refuses to leave Inglewood
Loree lets out a mighty roar and the children’s tent is evacuated
CKUA rebrands as CKUBetcha: The All Hits Some of the Time Some Hits all of the Time Happy Medium Channel
Cantos decides keyboards are lame and begin curating only didgeridoos
The mercury plummets, and a wine shortage forces the warming of beer
The temperature hits a swelter, and faulty refrigeration forces the warming of beer
TD and the Ship and Anchor ammalgamate stages to present: Punk Rock Bingo With Stolen PIN Numbers
Your teenaged daughter joins the euphoric crush in front of City in Colour yet still feels profoundly alone and can’t believe he said that
You don’t sit down- I ask you nicely a couple of times, I didn’t say anything about the smoking, but really, we’re just trying to enjoy the music and it’s basically, well, it’s insensitive, I don’t want to have to find security, and no, no, I don’t want to go!
As the nostrils of the bulls snort steam, the island captives forget where they are and why, or realize they’ve never known, and see briefly, that on the brink, desperation jousts with complete madness
Through the tangle of crossing wires there is music from another place, where trouble has consequence and gratitude is total, where dancing is serious
Tweedy’s ulcer disappears
Sampson is strongerthan
Buffy bathes the battlefield in equal parts rage and forgiveness
The rhythm is salve, the melody is salve, the words are salve, and between them there is some small salvation

Meet Drought, our 2012 Folk Fest mascot

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:09:08 +0000

Drought (he came with the name, and it feels weird to give him a new one...) is the face of the 2012 Calgary Folk Music Festival. Lovingly carved by Pete Balkwill of the Old Trout Puppet Workshop, beautifully photographed by Jason Stang, Drought will be making numerous appearances on our marketing materials this year...

'Just One Date' for CFMF ticket sales

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:05:06 +0000

The Calgary Folk Music Festival has announced changes to their ticket purchasing options for the 2012 Calgary Folk Music Festival.

There will be no ‘hard date’ end for Early Bird sales to mark on your calendar.

Starting April 26, 2012, a limited number of Early Bird 4-day passes will go on sale.

Once the limit of Early Bird tickets has been reached, tickets will become available at Advance rates.

The Early Bird prices for 2012 are:
• $145 for a 4-Day single-user pass (one ticket, one wristband)
• $165 for a 4-Day flex pass (individual tickets for each day)

Advance 4-day passes will be an additional $30. Single day tickets will also be available.

“We are excited to makes these changes to our ticket sales” says General Manager les siemieniuk. “We will lessen the administrative crunch that traditionally came with the last week of early bird sales, and still allow our dedicated ticket buyers to access the same great value they are used to.”

So mark you calendars for just one date: On April 26, 2012, the full line up for the Calgary Folk Music Festival is announced, and early bird sales begin.

The 34^th annual Calgary Folk Festival runs July 26-29, 2012 at Prince’s Island Park. Ok, you can add those dates to your calendar too.

CFMF sponsor in profile - Tim Hortons

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:22:44 +0000

Over the years the Calgary Folk Music Festival has developed many long term relationships with our amazing sponsors. Their support enables us to produce a world class event. One of our longest partnerships has been with Tim Hortons and their store owners. It is the store owners who vote to decide which events and charitable causes to support. Since 1998, they have voted to offer multi-level support to the Calgary Folk Fest. Not only do they provide a cash contribution, which helps with Festival operations, they provide the equipment, coffee and fixings to keep our volunteers, artists and staff caffeinated over the course of a very busy weekend.

At the 2011 Festival Tim Hortons stepped up their support to a new level. Every year, the sales at the Tim Horton’s coffee tent goes to a different charity.

This year, Tim Hortons to donate the proceeds of on-site sales to our very own Festival Hall- A donation that amounted to $12,500!

We thank Tim Hortons and its store owners for their incredible support as we head into the 15th year of our partnership!

See what other Tim Hortons initiatives help them to engage in the communities, in which they live, work & play: www.timhortons.com

CFMF sponsors in profile - Winter's Turkey / Trail's End Beef

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:35:52 +0000

At the Calgary Folk Music Festival, we are very mindful of the organizations that we bring onboard as sponsors. Their support helps us produce the amazing Festival that you know and love; they help us offset our costs, keep our ticket prices affordable, and fund the programs that we implement onsite.

The contributions of our sponsors come in the form of cash and in-kind gifts (providing us with goods and services).

Over the coming months we would like to shed a little light on how our sponsors' philosophies align with those of the Festival.

It’s a little peek behind the curtain of the Calgary Folk Music Festival...

Did you know?

As a volunteer of the Calgary Folk Music Festival there are many perks. From enjoying full access to the Festival all weekend, to being fed organic, gourmet meals in our hospitality area, organic cotton t-shirts and great parties, among others benefits. We have estimated that our volunteer perks would cost about $350 per person, multiply that by 1800 volunteers... You get the picture. Two of our sponsors, Winter’s Turkey and Trail’s End Beef are both family-run, local ranchers who ethically raise the turkey and beef that go into 3 of the weekend’s meals, keeping our hard working volunteers nourished. We thank the Winter and the Loree/Herbert families for their tremendous support!

Here they tell a little more of their stories.

Winter’s Turkey:

Spanning four generations our family has been raising free range turkeys on our Alberta farm near Dalemead.

Our birds range in sunshine and fresh air with unlimited access to the outdoors. They are provided a whole grain diet that is complemented with organic greens and forage. We raise our birds humanely with total consideration for their comfort and well being; we regularly provide our flocks with clean bedding and they have unlimited access to fresh water. Since 2000 we have been raising a certified organic flock and in 2010 we introduced Orlopp Bronze heirloom turkeys to our farm. We offer a wide variety of products all of which are gluten, dairy and nitrate free.

We are dedicated to practicing sustainability for our planet and providing respectful husbandry for our animals.

- The Winter Family wintersturkeys.ca

Trail’s End Beef:

On the hills and prairies near Nanton, about an hour south of Calgary, fifth-generation Trail’s End is home to happy healthy grassfed and finished beef. These cattle are raised the old-fashioned way: entirely free-range, no feedlots and no grain, antibiotics or growth hormones, just the natural rhythms of sun, grass, and time. Trail’s End is about relationship, for the customers, the animals, our family and the land. Linda (Granny) summers the cattle on her land in the beautiful Porcupine Hills, and in the winter they are at Tyler and Rachel’s on the short-grass prairie near Nanton, where the calves are born. Making a genuine connection with our customers and helping them to connect with the land and animals that produce their food is essential to our business. As part of this relationship an open-ranch policy is in place year-round. We encourage visitors, to meet us and the animals. Buying directly from the rancher also makes you a part of the cycle of good land, good health, and good relationships.

- Linda Loree and Rachel & Tyler Herbert www.trailsendbeef.com

Raise a Little Hall campaign begins Dec 5

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:51:04 +0000

The Calgary Folk Music Festival will launch its first public fundraising campaign in over a decade this December 5-16, in support of Festival Hall.

Festival Hall is the new home to the CFMF offices and a new performance facility in the heart of Inglewood. The Hall will feature a 150-180 seat performance space with state-of-the-art acoustics. The Hall will be programmed year-round by the CFMF for special concerts, educational programs, workshops and master classes, and will also be available to rent by non-profit and arts groups at accessible rates. It will also be available for private and corporate rentals.

Raise A Little Hall is an extension of the fundraising efforts the CFMF has done to date. Through private donors, government grants and corporate support, the Hall is more than eighty percent funded.

Raise A Little Hall is an opportunity for the CFMF’s dedicated audience and volunteer base to participate in our fundraising, and to make their mark on Calgary’s music scene. Goals for this fundraising drive will be targeted towards the costs of our sound system and bike racks, illustrating our desire for the Hall to be an exemplary performance space, and showing our commitment to alternative transportation.

For twelve days in December (December 5-16), the CFMF will be encouraging donations from $25-$500, with various incentives at each level, including a limited edition Raise A Little Hall T- shirt, and the opportunity, at the $500 level, to be a part of our Drink Rail campaign, allowing the donor to have their name etched permanently on the drink rail in the lobby of Festival Hall.

Over these twelve days, the festivalhallcalgary.com website will feature artist testimonials about the importance of Festival Hall, have daily draws for incentive prizes, and allow our audience to share their excitement about the Hall.

On Friday, December 16, the final day of the funding drive, the city will come alive with CFMF pop-up concerts, and volunteers and audience members will be encouraged to wear their festival t-shirts to work.

Saturday, December 17 will be the closing party for the funding drive with our second annual Indie Rock Xmas, an evening of holiday music performed by local artists at the beautiful Arrata Opera Centre. Artists performing this year include: My Dear Watson, The Collective, Savk, The Magnetic North, Scarves and Scars, Heather Blush, Dan Vacon, Eve Hell, Kenna Burima, Ship Shape, Brooke Wylie and Tom Bagley.

Calgary Folk Music Festival proclaimed A Greener Festival

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:38:40 +0000

Today at the UK Festivals Conference and Awards in London, England, the Calgary Folk Music Festival was recognized along with internationally renowned music festivals such as Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. The recognition came in the form of A Greener Festival award; prestigious in its own right but made more significant because the Calgary Folk Music Festival (CFMF) is the only Canadian event awarded this honour. A full list of the award winners can be found at www.agreenerfestival.com.

A Greener Festival showcases music and arts festivals with leading environmental practices. The CFMF went through a vigorous pre-festival application and A Greener Festival representative attended the 2011 festival to inspect the environmental program and assess its suitability for the designation of A Greener Festival.

The CFMF’s Artistic Director Kerry Clarke said "It's wonderful to be recognized not just for all the fantastic and eclectic music programmed each year but also the quality of the way we manage the festival in general. The fact that our efforts are good for the environment makes it a win-win situation."

A recent report by Green Calgary, a local urban environmental non-profit group, highlights that this summer’s festival reduced its waste by a whopping 76% compared to the previous year and diverted 58% of that total away from the landfill through a sophisticated recycling and composting program. In 2011, the festival also eliminated the sale of disposable bottled water, which contributed to the impressive waste reduction numbers.

Volunteer Eco-Initiatives Manager Leor Rotchild added "It's our belief that the Calgary Folk Music Festival is a leader in managing its environmental footprint. Being officially recognized as A Greener Festival re-enforces our belief and really motivates us to go even further in the years to come."

The greening efforts of the Calgary Folk Music Festival also extend beyond their footprint on Prince’s Island Park. Festival Hall, the future home of the CFMF’s offices and an intimate performance space, is being built with the aim of silver LEED designation. The building's carefully controlled heating and cooling system uses an ingenious and extensive Earth-Tube intake system that routes the building's fresh-air underground, tempering it geo-thermally before it is distributed within. This will allow the CFMF to avoid the use of air conditioning and further reduce energy requirements. The building's exterior scores extensive LEED credits in both terms of materials, execution and passive-solar energy design. Careful consideration was made to ensure materials are re-used, locally sourced, low-impact, and ultimately of a recyclable nature, such as the main Hall's stunning timber trusses constructed of re-used Douglas Fir.

A huge thank you to the CFMF’s environmental partners including:

For the Calgary Folk Music Festival: Cenovus Energy, First Calgary Financial, TD Canada Trust and The City of Calgary

For Festival Hall: Peter Cardew Architects, Karson Builders, Reinbold Engineering, Williams Engineering, Fast + Epp Structural Engineers, Stebnicki + Partners and The City of Calgary.

About A Greener Festival

A Greener Festival is an internationally acknowledged independent organization which assists environmentally conscious festivals to go green by offering green resources and idea sharing. The organization also manages the award program which is available for events throughout Europe, North America and Australia. In 2011 forty-six festivals gained the prestigious award, certifying their green credentials. Festivals who apply for the scheme must prove to the judges that the festival has meaningful and effective environmental policies and practices to deal with traffic and transport, greenhouse gas emissions, waste and recycling, water conservation, noise pollution, ethical policies and environmental protection. The festivals should also have sustainable office policies.

Further information about the Calgary Folk Festival’s environment program can be found here.

Calgary Folk Fest 2011 set the bar high for environmental performance

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:00:00 +0000

Calgary: October 19, 2011 – The results are in and the Calgary Folk Music Festival’s environmental performance in 2011 is impressive. A new report by Green Calgary, a local urban environmental non-profit group, highlights that this summer’s Calgary Folk Music Fest reduced its waste by a whopping 76% and diverted 58% of that total away from the landfill through a sophisticated recycling and composting program- The First Calgary Financial Eco-Initiatives Program.

The focus on the environment is nothing new for the Calgary Folk Music Festival but its ability to measure its performance and consistently improve is a benchmark that other major events should strive for. “We hope these results will inspire other major festivals to see that you can organize a world class event and still limit your environmental impact” said les siemieniuk, General Manager of the Calgary Folk Festival.

“There are a number of initiatives that helped us achieve our environmental objectives” says Leor Rotchild, volunteer manager of the Folk Fest’s eco initiatives. “For example, the Folk Festival was the first pilot of a successful partnership with the City of Calgary’s Waste & Recycling Services.” This enabled co-mingling of recyclable materials for the first time outside of the City’s residential program and it made for a smoother collection process overall.

The Folk Fest also completely phased out the sale of bottled water, which helped to decrease the amount of beverage waste this year by 43% according to the Green Calgary report. Thanks to water stations supplied in part by TD Canada Trust festival goers remained hydrated throughout the weekend. Long term partners, First Calgary Financial as well as the first year support from Cenovus Energy also helped the Folk Festival grow its environmental program to produce less waste, recycle and compost more and even offset carbon emissions through a tree giveaway for festival goers.

Read more about our environmental efforts

Polaris Institute supports our bottled water-free policy

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:30:47 +0000

We received this lovely letter from the Polaris Institute after news of our bottled-water free policy hit the wire today...

Folk on the Train

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:00:21 +0000

Calgary Transit morning commuters will get a musical treat next week with the Calgary Folk Music Festival's Folk on the Train series. Select festival artists will be performing on both CTrain routes leading up to the festival. Here's the schedule!

Tuesday July 19

Route 201 - Somerset/Bridlewood 9: 30 am - 11:30 am
New Country Rehab
Route 202 - City Centre / McKnight 9: 30 am - 11:30 am
T. Buckley

Wednesday July 20

Route 201 - Somerset/Bridlewood 9: 30 am - 11:30 am
Spiro
Route 202 - City Centre / McKnight 9: 30 am - 11:30 am
Matt Masters

Thursday July 21

Route 201 - Somerset/Bridlewood 9: 30 am - 11:30 am
Hollow Brethren
Route 202 - City Centre / McKnight 9: 30 am - 11:30 am
Lauren Mann

Friday July 21

Route 201 - Somerset/Bridlewood 9: 30 am - 11:30 am
Morgan O'Kane
Route 202 - City Centre / McKnight 9: 30 am - 11:30 am
Raleigh

MyFolkFest, Your Folk Fest

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:30:29 +0000

MyFolkFest is your unique festival schedule, sharable with friends and family so you can keep in touch with your pals on site.

We asked some local friends of the festival to share their picks. Please, no stalking...

Lisa Wilton, Music writer, The Calgary Sun - View her schedule

Terry Wickham, Producer, Edmonton Folk Festival - View his schedule

Mike Morrison, Blogger, MikesBloggityBlog + Huffington Post - View his schedule

Ian Chiclo, Editor, FFWD Weekly, Board Chair of the Calgary Folk Festival - View his schedule

Now it's your turn to make your own schedule! Visit our Festival Schedule page and start building your perfect folk festival weekend. Once on site, you can access your schedule with any web-enabled phone at m.calgaryfolkfest.com. We have free wifi on the island!

Musings on the songwriting contest

Wed, 25 May 2011 13:07:16 +0000

We recently wrapped up the 8th annual Ship and Anchor and CFMF songwriting contest. What a trip.

The gist of how it all runs down:

The contest generated over 300 entries in the four major categories: youth, newcomer, professional and songs about Canada. Staff from the CFMF and the Ship listened to every single one of them and met to determine who would make it to the finals. This is always such an interesting process. I find we have concensus on the majority of what makes the top 20 in each category, and then we have some passionate arguments about songs that hit us personally, and lobby like crazy to get those in.

Once the line up is determined for each category I get to let all the finalists know and set the show order, drum up some awesome hosts and select the hard-nosed judges who will make the final calls on the winners.

Eric Rosenbaum posted a blog entry on Musical Immigrant about his experience as a judge. You can read it here.

And then the weekends roll around. The energy at the Ship on the song contest days is palpable. The first weekend we have the youth entrants and the newcomers, and these are always such diverse collections of tunes. The confidence and stage presence of the youth entrants (all between 13-17 years) just leaves me gobsmacked. So many of these kids are naturals, and obviously incredibly focused on their craft.

The second round of finals features the more traditional, folk-y Beaver Tales (Songs of Canada) category and Pros and Prose, which really shows the breadth of genres our local (read: provincial) scene is offering.

Over the two weekends I get the pleasure of handing out $25 K in cash to the winners in each category. The sponsorship money we receive for the contest goes right back to the songwriters.

Can't wait to do it again next year!

Johanna Schwartz
Producer, Ship & Anchor and CFMF Song Contest

The winners this year were:

Untapped Newcomer (sponsored by Big Rock)
Elise Hall-Meyer - Dinosaurs

A catchy tune about the rape of the oilsands.

Video

Sonic Youth (Sponsored by The New Black)
Lauren Payne - The Boat Song

This song is totally about my last failed relationship. Crazy.

Video

Beaver Tales (sponsored by Edmonton Folk Music Festival)
Rob Heath - Starlight Tours

A chilling tale of the RCMPs habit of dropping intoxicated folks out of town in the dead of winter.

Video to come!

Pros and Prose (sponsored by Calgary Folk Club)
100 Mile House - Better, Still

A beautiful love song about taking small steps to a happier life.

Video to come!

The 2011 launch!

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:58:31 +0000

We met at the Ship and Anchor yesterday to launch the 2011 festival and our Artistic Director Kerry Clarke gave us a run-down of some of the highlights...

Back in 1985, when CFMF was a mere child of 5, a crazy country punker from the little town of Consort wowed our audience.

Flash forward to 2011. Both the Festival and k.d. lang have matured and blossomed. But there’s a reason her latest album Sing It Loud harkens back to the sounds of her early days, specifically so she can perform at folk festivals.

They’re a refuge from the hustle and bustle, a place where the concrete ends and the magic begins…where Calgary discovers music plus its largest playground, the heart of summer, the simple things in life, a sense of wonder and its soul.

Discover why the 21-year-old Quebec artist who goes by Coeur de Pirate is making waves in France.

Perhaps you’re curious about how one plays the donkeyjawbone, so will be mesmerized by David Wax Museum.

Or you’ve wondered what a Haitian troubadour sounds like, so will love Ti-Coca.

You’ll likely want to know more about indie darlings The Head and the Heart after their appearance on Conan’s show.

You might want a glimpse into the 40-year musical friendship between Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and Joe Ely, who make up The Flatlanders, or to learn why Joseph Arthur was the first North American artist signed to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Label.

Or to hear ska’s scratching guitar style inventor, 77-year-old Jamaican Ernest Ranglin, a Studio One veteran who played on "My Boy Lollipop” and James Bond soundtracks.

Perhaps you want to witness the power of C.R. Avery’s beatboxing or find out why a carpenter who began songwriting in his 40s, David Francey, has cleaned up at the Junos, or what the music of a Rwandan immigrant - Mighty Popo - who cut his chops playing blues, has developed into. Or what blues from the Maritimes sounds like. Meet Matt Anderson. You could discover what Vernon Reid of Living Colour or Bernie Worrell, a Parliament Funkadelic founder are doing now. Or how to make music in a grain silo, or what one-person theatre is all about.

There are thousands of these stories buried in the line-up of over 68 artists from across the globe that perform over 100 unique performances over 4 magical days on 7 stages at Prince’s Island Park. It’s a many layered, multi-generational, genre-bending extravaganza. They’re the upstarts and icons that we’re so proud to present.

2011 Folk Boot Camp

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:29:48 +0000

The Calgary Folk Music Festival has opened registration for its 6^th Annual Folk Boot Camp workshop series to be held July 20 to July 22, 2011. The Folk Boot Camp series at Cantos Music Foundation offers the public a unique chance to participate in a behind-the-scenes, intensive workshop with some of the famed musicians performing at the Calgary Folk Music Festival running July 21-24, 2011.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to immerse yourself in music, hone your craft and be led by the hand of some of the most celebrated musicians and songwriters Canada has to offer,” says Folk Boot Camp Manager, Kenna Burima.

The 2011 Folk Boot Camp series will feature two guitar classes from Matt Andersen and Mighty Popo, three intensive songwriting sessions with Joel Plaskett, Catherine MacLellan or David Francey and a vocal workshop with the members of Chic Gamine. The featured artists will also be appearing throughout the weekend at the 2011 Calgary Folk Music Festival.

Only 15 people will be accepted into each workshop session, which run three hours a day, July 19 through 22. The sessions are geared toward musicians with basic knowledge and rudimentary skills who want to supplement their own studies with guidance from the world’s finest musicians.

This year’s Folk Boot Camp at Cantos also features a special lecture with Vernon Reid, entitled “The Guitar as Accessory to the Human Condition” to be held on Wednesday, July 20 at 7:00 pm at the Cantos Music Foundation. Tickets for the showcase are available to the general public for $20 and can be purchased through the Calgary Folk Festival website (www.calgaryfolkfest.com) or by calling 403-233-0904.

Registration for the 2011 Folk Boot Camp series costs $150 and includes the three day workshop, refreshments and free admission to the Vernon Reid showcase, plus a 15% discount on four-day passes for the 2011 Calgary Folk Music Festival. Out of town participants also receive a special room rate at the 5 Calgary Suites.

Ticket update

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:22:42 +0000

Ticket updates: We've made some changes to the 4-day passes for the 2011 festival. You now have a choice of purchasing a 4-day pass as a single ticket to be exchanged for a 4-day wristband at the same great price as last year, or buy a 4-day flex pass to share with friends, and save almost $60 off the cost of single-day tickets.

Student and youth 4-day passes are now single tickets to be exchanged for 4-day wristbands as well.

As always, kids 12 and under and seniors 65 and over are free, no tickets required, even on 'sold out' days.

Mark your calendars: Early bird tickets are on sale from April 28 - June 1.

New 4-day pass options!

This year you will have a choice of purchasing a single-user pass or a flex pass.
(Flex passes are for adults only. All youth and student passes are non-transferable)

Adult 4-day pass - $135 early bird (April 28-June 1) / $155 advance (June 2 - July 20)
Student 4-day pass - $95 early bird / $115 advance
Youth 4-day pass - $85 early bird / $95 advance

The above 4-day passes are single-user passes. You will receive a single ticket, to be exchanged at the festival for a non-transferable 4-day wristband. This wristband must stay on your wrist for the duration of the festival. Any evidence of tampering or removal and reattachment of the wristband will render it null and void. If your wristband is damaged and needs to be replaced, you may exchange it at the festival box office with proof of receipt and valid ID.

Adult 4-day flex pass - $155 early bird / $185 advance

A 4-day flex pass is meant to be shared with friends. You will receive 4 individual tickets (Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun). Each ticket will be exchanged for a single-day wristband at the festival, and can be redeemed only once. With the flex pass you save almost $60 off the cost of single-day tickets.

As always, kids 12 and under and seniors 65 and over are free, no tickets required, even on 'sold out' days.

Mayor Nenshi's WOW Moment

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:50:03 +0000

Tourism Calgary is asking Calgarians to share in their "WOW moments" and Mayor Nenshi sent a beautiful shout out to the Folk Festival:

"I am wowed by this wonderful city every single day. There are amazing vistas, breathtaking achievements and acts of kindness small and large all under the limitless Prairie sky.

But every year, at the end of July, after the sun sets on a warm summer evening, I find myself sitting on a tarp on an island in the middle of the city and listening to amazing music at the Calgary Folk Music Festival.

Then a beautiful parade of illuminated handmade lanterns wends its way through the crowd. They are held by children and adults, guiding us all home safely. It's at that moment when I am happiest to be in Calgary."

Thanks Mayor Nenshi! We love you too.

Original link:

http://www.visitcalgary.com/maps-tools/inside-guide/well-known-calgarian-mayor-naheed-nenshi

k.d. lang to play 2011 folk fest

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:21:58 +0000

The Calgary Herald did our work for us this morning and leaked the announcement that k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang will be playing the festival on Saturday July 23.

From her whimsical, subversive roots 25 years ago blending country music with a punk esthetic, this multiple Grammy and Juno Award-winning artist’s career has combined her love of country with sophisticated, emotive torch singing wrapped in an amalgam of jazz, Western music and a little samba. lang's interpretation of Leonard Cohen's oft-covered "Hallelujah" is understatedly stunning and her cover of Roy Orbison's "Crying" breathtaking.

Her latest album, Sing it Loud, will be released on Nonesuch Records April 12 and is lang’s first record made entirely with her own band since her career-launching Reclines albums. The Siss Boom Bang is Joe Pisapia (multi-instrumentalist/co-producer/musical director), Daniel Clarke (keyboards), Fred Eltringham (drums/percussion), Joshua Grange (baritone guitar, dobro), and Lex Price (bass).

This is k.d's second appearance at the folk fest. She played way back in 1985!

www.kdlang.com

Secret Sisters cancel

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:12:02 +0000

The Secret Sisters have taken the opportunity to tour Europe this summer (who can blame them, really), so will not be performing at this year's folk fest. We hope to rebook them for a future year!

Christine Fellows show cancelled

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:45:48 +0000

Due to a closed highway Christine Fellows will not be performing tonight. Ticket refunds are available through the folk festival office at 403-233-0904