National Folk Fest 2022

The 81st National Folk Festival was held in Salisbury, Maryland Friday, August 26 through Sunday August 28.  We volunteered Saturday and Sunday all day.  It was a lot of fun and a lot of on our feet time since we'd signed up as  "bucket brigade" volunteers.  Bucket brigade volunteers walk around with a big bucket hoping for donations to help fund the next folk festival.  The next one for Salisbury will be the Maryland Folk Festival and not the national one.  The festivals are free so the donations help a lot.  As bucket brigade volunteers we don't get pushy but are encouraged to dance and have fun.  So I did.  I noticed that my dancing certainly increased donations and that just plain walking quietly up and down the isles during breaks between musical numbers increased donations.  Many people who hadn't donated the last four or five times I walked by ended up donating.  It was an interesting phenomena which tells reinforces what I already knew - that perseverance pays off, repetition wins the day, just keep giving opportunities without necessarily making eye contact but always smiling. 

We had expected singer/songwriter folk musicians like we used to host in house concerts over the years in Baltimore and Annapolis.  Those musicians would be singletons or small groups.  There weren't any of those at the folk fest which disappointed us.  But that's not to say we didn't enjoy the groups playing at the folk fest.  It's really an amazing event and so wonderful that its three days of free music where you donate whatever you can or nothing.  Suggested donation each day is $10 which is a really amazing deal.  

My feet were sore at the end of the first day though I can walk for miles and am used to it.  I wore a pair of sneakers that I hadn't really tried out to any extent so now I know they aren't up to the job.  The next day I wore my good distance running shoes and no problem.  It was hot as hades both days but cooled down with a horrendous gushing rain storm and lots of lightening for a couple hours on Saturday where things were put on hold and people were told to shelter in nearby buildings due to the lightening.  At the start of that storm we headed back to the volunteer tent to check in and through the ankle deep rain on the street and with torrents washing down from the sky I danced in and twirled around to the laughter of the volunteer tent volunteers.  A girl has to have fun. 

Below is the Maryland Spirituals Initiative Ensemble.  The music was beautiful. A couple got up and left from the front row when the Kentavius Jones, the group leader and music professor at Salisbury, began to describe how black spirituals came about during slavery after the first number.  The woman had on a baseball hat with the 1776 flag on it which has been used of late, unfortunately, by the white supremacists.  I don't know why people like that were even in the audience to begin with.   

Dave ended up working back stage at the Maryland Traditions Folklife stage all day on Sunday due to changing needs or perhaps a volunteer not showing up.  

We really enjoyed this volunteer opportunity and the other volunteers we met.  It was a lot of fun and well worth it.  I hope we are available to help out next year at the Maryland Folk Festival.  

Hippiefest in Milford, Delaware

The Lincoln City band, an oldies cover band.

We attended the Hippiefest at the Causey Mansion in Milford, Delaware on August 20.  We'd driven by the entry to the Causey Mansion a lot and wondered about it.  We had no idea the lot was as large as it is and as beautiful.  It has kind of an overgrown, English garden look from the street which I like.  And the foliage keeps the house and the lot very private, even in the winter.  So what a surprise when we entered and began the walk back and discovered many small (and large) garden settings with seating, fountains, sculptures and beautiful flowers.  

We were joined near the back of the seating area by a couple who'd been married at the Causey Mansion years before when it was under different owners.  They have great memories of the mansion and the surrounding gardens for their big day. 

The band was so so and Dave was poo pooing it to our new (and maybe brief) friends who'd been married at the mansion.  So when Dave complained about the bands' lack of skill, the wife informed us, politely, that they'd hired that same band to play at their house for a lawn party.  Yikes.  She diplomatically alluded that perhaps Dave's knowledge of musical prowess exceeded hers.  I had the feeling we wouldn't be trading phone numbers when the evening was over and I was right. She was really nice though, as was her husband.  

The best part of the Hippiefest in my opinion was seeing how many townsfolk came out dressed for the era.  Talk about enthusiasm.  It was a fun evening. 

The Alcohauler truck was at the festival providing drinks for the hippie era celebrants.  This is the second time we encountered the Alcohauler and I have a t-shirt celebrating them because I thought it was such a great idea and a great name for a "food truck" that only sells drinks. 

Large multi-colored beach balls were batted about throughout the evening with most people enjoying it even if they got bopped on the head with it unaware of it's impending arrival.  A couple folks got testy but then these hippie celebrants mostly were not high but more likely tipsy with alcohol.  In my humble opinion people high from marijuana are more chill than people drunk from alcohol, not that I'm hating on alcohol. 

Below,  a couple night shots of the Causey Mansion. 

Side view of the mansion.

Front door of Causey Mansion.  The mansion itself was not open to the public.

The Causey Mansion dates back to really early Delaware days, which is early since it is the "first state" in the union.  It is a Greek Revival Georgian home built in 1763.  It's older than the town of Milford and is now right in the middle of the town but once was part a a huge parcel of land.  It's been home to two Delaware governors and to the Vineyard family of shipbuilders as well as slaves. We were on the phone with old friends who live in Florida.  We were telling them about the Hippiefest held at the mansion and how far back it's history goes, dating back to before the revolution.  The friend made the remark that it was obviously a place that defied anyone's ability to "cancel culture".  Hmmm... Is he working off a different meaning to "cancel culture"?  I just didn't understand what he was referencing.  We didn't bother to tell him that slaves had been a part of that property back in the day and probably were the bulk of the labor that built it and worked the fields around it that are now the town of Milford.  Maybe we should have asked what he meant about his remark.  Maybe we should have pointed out that the mansion history had covered revolutionary times which also included slavery.  

A fun ending to the Hippiefest was the hole hoop contest at the end.  It was amazing how long many of the  folks (all women, I think) could keep that hoop going.  

Rock the Boat Ferry Cruise

The band Glass Onion

Delaware and New Jersey have a good thing going on Friday nights during the summer.  Who ever had the idea of a Rock the Boat Ferry ride from Lewes, Delaware to Cape May, New Jersey and back is a genius.  And whoever shepherded through all the coordination and approvals that had to be done to make it a reality is also amazing.  It's the kind of thing that many bureaucrats might shy away from saying it's in the too hard to do category, that it would be crazy to put a band on a ferry and encourage ferry passengers to dance and drink and in general, whoop it up.  I love it.  Good job.  

We didn't know about the Rock the Boat ferry cruise until this summer when we went to a free concert on the Mispillion River behind the library in Milford, Delaware and listened to Glass Onion enthusiastically play popular rock and roll tunes.  The energy was great. They threw Mardi Gras beads to children gathered in front of them.  And they announced that they play every Friday on the Rock the Boat ferry cruise.  That's all we needed to hear.  We got tickets.  The first time we went it was a bit rainy and not that many people came out to play.  We had fun and decided the Rock the Boat cruise was a keeper and a great way to show off the area to friends.  

The second time we were going to take friends with us but timing didn't work out so we were able to postpone use of the tickets until August 19.  The weather was beautiful and the ferry was packed.  The band was up to the job and we all had a lot of fun.  It's quite a trick to dance on a gently rocking boat but at least this time the deck wasn't wet with rain.  We didn't get too randy with our dance moves though.  Just in case.  

Friends of ours who used to pilot one of the Dupont family member's yacht had told us recently that the Delaware River was probably the most boring of the places they motored that yacht over many years.  It's kind of a bummer to hear that though perhaps it is true.  But this is the Delaware Bay that the ferry crosses and there are a couple of light houses.  And what's not to like about Lewes, Delaware and Cape May, New Jersey.  They are two very quaint, historic, and scenic towns that also have lots of natural beauty and claims to fame with the monarch butterfly migration and the eastern flyway migration route for birds.  There are also lighthouses right at the mouth of the bay.  Who doesn't love a lighthouse? 

I believe this is a shot of our departure from Cape May.

Upon entering the docking area for Lewes, the crew flips the ferry around and essentially backs it into the slip from a helm on the side.  

It was a beautiful evening.  We finished it off at the Crown and Rose in Lewes, sitting up at the bar for a late evening dinner and drink.