Rochester, NY:

Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly are folk musicians who met at a coffeehouse 22 years ago and have explored Celtic, British and Appalachian folk and gospel singly, together and with various partners. Lissa Schneckenburger is a young violinist who's delved deeply into the traditions of dance-focused New England folk music. Kim and Reggie Harris take a "from Bach to rock" approach to their performances, with a special emphasis on African-American spirituals and songs of freedom.


They're among the headliners of the Golden Link Folk Singing Society's annual Turtle Hill Folk Festival, set for Sept. 11-13 at a new location, the Rotary Sunshine Campus in Rush. Founded more than 35 years ago as a one-day picnic at the home of some Golden Link members, the event has grown over the years to a full weekend of performances by local and nationally (sometimes internationally) known musicians across the broad spectrum of the "folk" palette — Cajun, Celtic, stringband, blues, bluegrass and more — as well as workshops, sing-alongs, jams and more.


Festival chair Tom Taylor, of Honeoye, hopes the new site will become the festival's permanent home. Housed for years at Markus Park on Quaker Meeting House Road in Mendon, construction at that park forced the festival to find a transitional home last year — Harry Allen Park and the First Presbyterian Church of Honeoye Falls — the festival needs a long-term locale, Taylor noted.


"The Rotary Sunshine camp is a fine facility, and the organization is such a serving group — we're just pleased to connect up with that organization," Taylor said. "We're looking to see how it turns out this year. ... We would like to settle into a place that's long-term, because it's useful in people finding us and getting people to come to the festival."