Alaska Folk Festival, Juneau, Alaska: April each year, 7 days. All free.

An auditorium that holds approx. 1200. One main stage. One paid guest artist group that will do two 45-minute sets (Thursday and Sunday nights) and workshops on each one's specialty on Saturday and Sunday daytimes. 15-minute sets from about 155 people, out of about 200 applications. (The rest go on stand-by.) No auditions but the board tries to fit in each applicant for freshness and appeal. All acoustic.

Four nights of dance, different bands, one hour each.

Children's concerts on the weekend, children's entertainment nightly out of auditorium.

No alcohol on premises but jamming all over town in restaurants and bars and people's homes; all-nighters... A magic time!