Rick asked me how Lunenburg went. Herewith a subjective view:

Lunenburg, home of the Bluenose, is a beautiful old village in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. UNESCO has declared it a world heritage site for its many one-to-two hundred year old houses and buildings. Located on a natural harbour, it abounds with sailing ships and fishing boats, fishery museums and seafood restaurants. And it is the home of a great folk festival.

The 14th such festival was held August 6-8 and was in memory of Ken Matheson who had been chairman of the festival for 10 years. It featured Lennie Gallant, Blou, Tanglefoot, Cindy Church,David Massengill, Bill Garrett & Curly Boy Stubbs, Eve Goldberg, and many others. They were great.

Skip Gorman, who sings American cowboy songs, was a personal favourite of mine, and I enjoyed Forebitter, a shanty group from Mystic Seaport, Connecticut. Tanglefoot brought the whole festival to a rousing and emotional close.

I was pleased to hear the Elastic Millenium Choir and their shaped-note hymns. Bruce Oakes & Burleigh Oickle were two traditional musicians who have played for 50-60 years, and were a hoot. Duncan Cameron and His Band wowed the audience with their tradition-based modern music.

A new feature this year was storytelling in a brand-new venue. Tellers from across Canada were available because of the previous weekend's Storytellers of Canada Conference in Halifax.

My group, The Ballad Project, got to sing innumerable ballads, Child and otherwise, and to tell legends of Finn MacCool throughout the festival. My personal memorable moment: performing on the wharf with ships and boats and gulls and waves and an audience that gladly sang along. We sang nautical ballads and a narrative shanty.

Great fun. Great festival.

Lorne Brown