The "folk" is there, it is no longer center stage. Sponsorship is a thorny issue. Even the major sponsors are only sponsoring concrete parts of the festival. We find that the way to guarantee that the sponsors will come back is to do our best to guarantee a large audience.

This means putting audience interest before our own. Once the festival is guaranteed, it allows us to put our interests where we can find them.

Interestingly, many of the rockers hang out and perform with the folkies on the secondary stages. This brings aurdience to the messages we are trying to sell.

The point of the festival is trifold. [These are not in strict order of priority.] First, we have to raise money; second, we have to sell the environmental message to those who are no yet the "choir," third, we have to keep the choir coming back and build the audience. If that means going outside our original design, so be it.

As Bill knows, I have been involved with the boat and festivals since "the old days." Without going into issues of better or worse, Clearwater has absorbed the message of "evolve or die." We are doing our best to stay alive and spread the environmental message.