SS, you and I seem to be talking about different things. I have been attempting to establish some parameters for determining whether or not a piece of music is "folk". You appear to be talking about an attitude of mind.

The difficulty I have with this approach is that in order for people to get together "in the spirit of folk", or for them to decide to designate their event as a "folk" club or "folk" festival, or even if just in their own mind what they are doing is "folk", they must have some concept in their mind of what "folk" is. It cannot be because of the type of music being played, because according to you folk music is defined by the context, not the other way around. So what distinguishes these events from other people getting together to play or listen to music in more or less formal contexts who would put a different label on what they are doing? What is it that makes them decide to label these events "folk"?