Courtesy
A band representative of the diverse costumes, unusual instruments and complete staging setups present at the festival each year
performs at the 1987 Willamette Valley Folk Festival. The 2004 event kicks off Friday at 4 p.m. and runs through 6 p.m. Sunday.
Cultural Forum's Folk Festival
hits campus Friday afternoon
The Willamette Valley Folk
Festival will feature spoken
word artists, international
food, workshops and crafts
By Natasha Chilingerian
Pulse Reporter
Folk artists ranging from spoken
word poets to tamale cooks will gath
er on campus Friday through Sunday
for tire 34th annual Willamette Valley
Folk Festival.
The festival will boast what co-co
ordinator Ariel Zimmer calls "a con
sistent international flavor," and Zim
mer and co-coordinator Will
Reischman incorporated their person
al tastes and passions into the event's
agenda.
Unique additions to the 2004 festi
val include tabling by community or
ganizations and craft booths that ex
pand from the EMU south lawn to the
amphitheater area. Zimmer's interests
in Afro-Cuban music and spoken
word poetry is reflected in the enter
tainment lineup with performers such
as music group Obo Ady & Kukrudu
and Seattle-based spoken word artist
Laura "Piece" Kelley.
"I'm a spoken word artist, and I
wanted to bring in that flavor," Zim
mer said. "Poetry is a folk art, and it
needs to be just as popular as music,
in my opinion."
From a planning perspective, Zim
mer said the most significant new ad
dition to the festival's planning was
the use of a recognized fund-raising
campaign. Zimmer and Reischman
raised about $500 after sending out
letters to businesses asking for dona
tions and sponsorships.
Beginning at 4 p.m. Friday and
ending at 6 p.m. Sunday, nearly 20
musical acts will fill the main stage on
the EMU east lawn, including Middle
Eastern/jazz group Vagabond Opera
and a reggae/funk/Afro-beat team,
lyemo & the Extended Family.
From noon Saturday to 5 p.m. Sun
day, the EMU Amphitheater and The
Buzz Coffeehouse also will be alive
with performance. These acts will in
clude West African drumming and
dancing, samba music and dance and
tunes from the Eugene Harp Circle.
Food vendors will line the border
of the EMU east lawn. Options will
range from tofu, fried rice and tamales
to ice cream, smoothies and lemon
ade. Many food booths are returning
from past years, but two new addi
tions will join the old favorites: Cor
nucopia, which will provide hot and
cold sandwiches, and BBQ King,
which will serve up ribs, chicken,
beans and combread.
Zimmer said the festival will feature
more new craft sellers than food ven
dors this year.
"It is easier to pick up crafts and
travel than to have a traveling
kitchen," she said.
One standout craft participant
will be the Eugene Glass School,
which will make and sell decorative
glass creations on-site. Other crafty
plans for the festival include massage
centers and sales of drums, rocks and
African art. Children will have the
opportunity to engage in craft-mak
ing with old CDs.
A continuing activity of the festival
will be the presentation of the New
Song Contest winner. Budding singers
and songwriters have competed in
PART 2 OF 2_
May 13: A historical and behind-the
scenes look at the festival
Today: An in-depth preview of the 2004
Willamette Valley Folk Festival
one round so far this year for the title
of best new song. The second and fi
nal rounds will take place in the Ben
Linder Room from noon to 4 p.m.
Saturday, and the champion will per
form on the main stage Sunday at
noon. Reischman said remaining con
testants include a blues guitar artist
and a singing pianist.
Finally, workshops in the EMU Fir
Room on Saturday and Sunday from
1 p.m. to 4 p.m. will give festival-go
ers the opportunity to try a new folk
art. Banjo and North Indian tabla
playing and West African and Rum
bana salsa dance are just a few of the
activities to be taught.
"Workshops give people the chance
to work on their skills with profes
sionals," Reischman said.
Zimmer said the festival will em
phasize cleanliness and recycling. To
keep the event earth-friendly, festival
workers will use raw paper products,
recycled water and a compost system.
The UO Campus Recycling Program
will handle the festival's re-use of
products.
"(UO Campus Recycling) is award
winning, progressive and cutting edge
with their recycling methods and they
should get props for that," Zimmer
said.
The total cost of the event tallied up
at about $30,000, which is an im
provement from 2002's bill of
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