National Folk Festival

The National Folk Festival was incredible. It made the weekend better to share it with friends and family, but I would have enjoyed it regardless. It was held in Butte on a hill over many city blocks. There were 5 stages and such variety in the music. The first band I watched was "The Spirit of New York" on the main stage. The main stage is under an old mining rig. I had quite the time just people watching in the crowd and enjoying the music. My cousins and I saw Otrov
which played Baltic strings, a 16 year old madolin player named Sierra Hull and her band, and finished the night dancing to Thomas Mupfumo on the lowest stage. The lower stage is the only one with a dance floor.

The next day we came when the festival opened to do the square dancing. It was amazing to see 200 people getting swung around, from ages of 8-80, and they all had the biggest grins on their faces that you would ever see. My cousins and I joined in and enjoyed learning all the moves. That day was a mix of international music from China, Columbia, Mexico, as well as some rockin' blues and finishing the night with a amazing creole band, Beausoleil, at the dancing stage.

There are all kinds of artisans as well who use a variety of the resources of Montana in their art. We also watched a black smith for a while fashion some amazing iron work. The type of people at the event were a variety of what I call "dress like a liberal." If you weren't wearing khaki shorts and chacos, you were in the minority. It was 3 beautiful days with diversity and fun. The only downside was there was no public water spigot, you had to buy it. I walked away from the festival and stole into local shops and used their soda dispenser water spouts unoticed.