I'm not sure where the "average holiday makers" figured in festival events/concerts, other than standing around and watching the dancers at locations such as the bandstand and the Cook Monument. I certainly wasn't aware of many (if any) at the concerts and workshops that I attended during the week. As to a "shortage of songwriters", not as far as I was concerned! They're the last thing that I would personally want to see. This was, after all, a traditional folk festival, at which you would expect to find a large number of unaccompanied folksingers. Whitby is known as a festival celebrating that type of act, as far as I am aware, and thank heavens for that!

Just goes to show that we all expect and like different things (and don't all go to the same events) I suppose ?