Message from the President

 

On behalf of the Board of Directors and the staff of the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Arts Society, I would like to express my appreciation for the generous manner in which all of our supporters responded to the situation that developed for the annual Folk Festival this past weekend.  From early Saturday morning to the end of the Festival, we had unflagging support from many folks who went to work on their days off to make sure that the 35th annual Folk Festival could be presented for everyone’s enjoyment.

Special thanks must go to Mayor Dennis O’Keefe and councilors Shannie Duff, Tom Hann, Sheilagh O’Leary and Danny Breen who responded to early morning calls with promptness and good humour and set about to make arrangements with the folks at Mile One Stadium.  Bernadette Walsh (City of St. John’s) was also instrumental in making things happen in really quick time.  The decision to absorb the Mile One costs was an act of conspicuous generosity.

 

To Bill Thistle, Sheena McCrate, Tara Lynch and all the staff at Mile One Stadium, we are extremely grateful.  Your prompt and courteous handling of all our requests was magnificent.  The generosity of individual staff members in coming back to work at such short notice with graciousness and smiles and their friendly cooperation throughout the event was a real indication of their sense of community and pride.  Without their support I cannot even speculate how our Society would have suffered.

 

Our security chief Bob Earles, who has been with the Festival since the beginning, our technical director Pat Janes, our sponsorship and marketing director, Gord Delaney and our event coordinator John Clarke worked throughout the weekend without a break to ensure that the Festival could go on with as little interruption as possible.  Our general manager Tracey Waddleton and student assistant Charlotte-Anne Maischewski haven’t stopped since they started the final planning work in July.  Thanks to our webmaster Rick West, who was instrumental in promptly ensuring we kept the public up to date and informed.  Our volunteer chiefs also worked tirelessly to make sure the event was a success. We are so grateful for the dedication and hard work of all these individuals.

 

We are also very grateful to all the artists who adjusted their requirements and expectations as we moved inside the stadium. I’m sure for many of them it was the first time they had ever played in a hockey-team’s dressing room.  We send a special thanks to those artists who generously donated the fees for their cancelled performances back to the Society. 

 

Thanks to all the media partners who were tremendous in assisting us in getting the message out to the public.  From radio to print to television, you really rallied around us and helped us keep everybody informed.  Special thanks to John Reynolds(Steele Communications) who was on the ground with us and on the airwaves throughout the entire weekend.

 

The Festival went ahead with some modifications and was a tremendous success, if we can judge by the many calls and e-mails we have received since Sunday.  The Neil Murray Stage performers who were scheduled for Saturday afternoon got to play on Sunday, for the most part, which was especially pleasing to the Society, whose mandate is to encourage the transmission of our living traditions from generation to generation.  Our loyal audiences took things in their stride and turned up in the Park, even on the soggiest Friday night in recent memory, to listen to their favourites, and came again to enjoy the spectacular performances on Saturday night and Sunday in side Mile One.

 

Although the Society will certainly take a financial hit, things are not as bad as they might have been.  We will miss the revenue from the beer tent and our attendance was not what we were hoping, but as it says in the old song “we will not be cast down”.  The Board of Directors and the staff are working on creative ways to bring up our bottom line and you will be hearing about them in the coming days.

 

For those of you whose tickets could not be honoured for Saturday’s session, please check elsewhere on our web site to find out how you can get a refund or make a charitable donation to the Society.  The staff will very soon be contacting vendors who could not be accommodated in Mile One Stadium.

 

Anita Best

President

Folk Arts Society