for me the big difference between the type of punter who enjoys Cambridge and the type who goes to some of the smaller festivals is that Cambridge is a much more passive experience. There are far fewer participative opportunities for workshops, playing and singarounds. There's no morris, few ceilidhs, and activities are aimed at young people (though they are excellent).

From what I've observed in recent years, the majority of Cambridge punters turn up to be entertained rather than to take part. Interestingly, Cambridge also maintains the biggest separation between punters and artists, with a massive backstage VIP area where most of the artists tend to congregate.

Now, my feeling is that most of these more "passive" punters have not come up through the folk scene: they don't play or sing or dance. They've come to folk as just one part of their music experience, via a bit of Radio 2, or maybe seeing Kate Rusby or Seth Lakeman at their local arts centre. They are probably also used to more commercial music experiences, and so don't realise that Cambridge is odd precisely because you aren't rubbing shoulders with the artists at the bar, let alone taking part in a session or a sing-song with them. They also accept the ridiculous ticketing situation and the overcrowding as part and parcel of the experience, because they know that the other non-folk festivals they'll attend this year (maybe Womad, or V, or Glastonbury) make Cambridge look like a village fete in comparison.

So my answer to the question "have big folk festivals had their day?" is absolutely not. If anything, the people attending them are the majority. It's us lot, who are much more specialised in our interests and enthusiasms, who are in the minority.