I've been asked to make a suggestion for (and probably carry through on) an "entertainment" event to be held in association with a week-long Bicentennial Celebration of my hometown and county in southwest Mississippi. Right now the celebration is scheduled for the last week of April in 2009.

Do any of the wiser, more experienced types on here have advice on how best to go about organizing and carrying off a folk festival?

Our county was settled in the 20 or so years after the Revolution by Scottish and Irish immigrants/descendents and by a few Tories from the eastern colonial area that decided their loyalty to the crown made them outcasts after independence was won.

To give you an idea of the nature of settlers of the area (so you can understand what type of folk music was likely to their liking), one of my great great grandfathers was Scottish and was one of four brothers who had spent the Revolution in the capacity of personal bodyguards to Francis Marion in South Carolina. (Marion may be better known to some of you as the "Swamp Fox" who primarily fought in a guerilla role in the Revolution and who was the model for Mel Gibson's character in "The Patriot".)

Since most of the limited venues with space enough for a potentially large gathering will be occupied or otherwise in use during most of the main celebration week, I was considering organizing a folk festival for the weekend prior to the main events at a recreational area on the edge of town.

While I have great basic ideas, I have never organized anything of this nature before and I'm looking for sage advice on do's and don'ts, and a check list of critical aspects that need to be taken into account.

Anybody want to make a suggestion or twenty?

Thanks,

SC