From my Facebook page:
My heart aches with the loss of Juel Ulven. I never realized when I came to Illinois for graduate school that I would be getting a parallel education in folk music, with Juel as the impresario who made things happen.? Mentor, Musical Fairy Godfather, Historian, Teacher, Promoter, Coordinator, Source, Technical wiz, and so very staunchly, a Friend… there are so many more ways to describe how important Juel has been for me - and I’m only one of the thousands of people whose life he changed for the richer, happier & more interesting. My gratitude is endless.
The transforming of the Wednesday night song circle into zoom sessions during the pandemic gave those of us who live far from Fox Valley a chance to check in with Juel and the crew every week. Extraordinary opportunity to have a little side chats, listen to Juel tell stories, particularly at the end of the evening when only a few folks were left. I got to spend more time with Juel in the last two years than I would have in non-pandemic times, and in situations where he wasn’t in the midst of running a festival??. There were plenty of opportunities to tell him what a great gift his friendship has been, and I guarantee you I took every single one of them; there is comfort in knowing that when friend departs this earth, they know how much you love them, they take that love with them when they go?.

A number of folks thought this reflected much of what he had been for them, as well. Thinking about Juel as just “Chicago Area” doesn’t tell the whole story. Juel was one of the founders of Folk Alliance (now International, but originally North America) and was active in forming that baby organization in the 80s, and the formation of the regional sub-groups like FARM. His links with performers and festivals in Canada, England, and around the US were many - support, advice, suggestions, recommendations, all done in a kind, low-key sharing way. He wanted all the musicians and those who presented them to thrive, enjoy, have fun.

There IS quite a bit to all the parts of the Chicago area folk scene that Juel had a hand in: I had the fun of being in the sound booth when he was running it for a University of Chicago Folk Festival concert broadcast. His own Fox Valley Folklore society has SO many offerings besides the festival - barn dances, open mics, weekly sing around (40+ YEARS! Wish I had the actual number), mainstage and house concerts, instrument workshops, and a wide variety of ways to spread the news and schedules of other folk societies & presenting organizations. His taste was broad, and excellent, with a particular love for maritime music and folks from the British Isles…oh yeah, and Midwest songwriters…and old time…and banjos…shoot I could go on for days & still not mention it all! What he knew about the folk music scene, and the people in it, was astonishing.

AND THEN there was the sadly too short lived Midwest magazine COME FOR TO SING… yanno, this guy hardly slept. He only needed a couple hours he’d say & he could get so much done middle of the night with no phone calls. Yet he always made time for friends, and it was oh, so, easy to become his friend: you just had to meet the man. There are few humans who made such a wide swath of goodness in their wake with such lack of fuss about themselves. He used to laugh at folks who were “a legend in their own mind” He turned that phrase around in soliciting volunteers: “Become a legend on your own time!” - and he was the first, best example of that.

Joanne Laessig in Cleveland