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Plan Ahead: Folk singers head west for fest
By Susan Gallagher -
Associated Press
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, May 4, 2008
Story appeared in TRAVEL section, Page M
HELENA, Mont. – The National Folk Festival comes to Montana this summer, bringing the event's mix of "music, dance and tradition from across America" to historic Butte in Big Sky country.
The three-day festival changes venues every three years. For the last three summers, it was held in Richmond, Va. The National Council for the Traditional Arts chose Butte over 22 other cities that bid to host the multicultural event for the next three summers.
The dates for this year's festival are July 11-13. The 24 acts, which will perform on seven stages, will include Washington state's Wylie & the Wild West, a Western music group featuring Yahoo! yodeler Wylie Gustafson; Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas from Louisiana; the Alex Meisner polka band from Pennsylvania; and New York's Yuri Yunakof Ensemble, performing Bulgarian wedding music.
There is no charge for admission to the festival, which features continuous performances, participatory dancing, children's activities, ethnic foods and craft exhibits.
The main stage in Butte, population 32,000, will be a 10,000-seat amphitheater at a former mine yard left from the town's heyday as a world leader in the copper industry.
The festival will be centered in Uptown Butte, a picturesque area with a National Historic Landmark District that includes mansions, Victorian homes, boarding houses, miners' cottages and old 100- to 200-foot mining frames, which were used to bring workers in and out of the mines.
Today, copper mining continues on a smaller scale and tourism is growing, strengthened by Butte's location between Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Glacier's west entrance is 270 miles north of the city. West Yellowstone and its park gate are about 160 miles southeast of Butte.
Butte organizers hope to attract at least 100,000 people to the event.
The Folk Festival will be followed by Evel Knievel Days, the city's annual party July 24-26 celebrating the late motorcycle daredevil and native son. Butte's An Ri Rah celebration of Irish culture is set for Aug. 8-10.
NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL
When: July 11-13
Where: Butte, Mont.
How much: Free
Festival information: www.nationalfolkfestival.com
Butte information: www.mainstreetbutte.org or (406) 497-6464
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