The first folk festivals I ever attended were in Seattle during the 1950s. They were held concurrently with the yearly "East 42nd Street Arts Festivals." Concerts, workshops, and song fests. They were free of charge.

Then I attended the Berkeley Folk Festivals in the early 1960s. Workshops during the day, concerts in the evenings. I heard—and had a chance to meet and talk with—singers and folklorists such as Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl, Sandy Paton, John Lomax Jr, Archie Green, Charles Seeger, Sam Hinton, The New Lost City Ramblers, Jean Ritchie,, Almeda Riddle,, Joan Baez, Frank Warner, Jean Redpath, Marais and Miranda, Lighinin' Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, Mance Lipscomb, Merritt Herring, and many more. These festivals started on a Wednesday and ran though the Memorial Day weekend.. $15.00 for the entire festival. Food and drink? You were on your own. There were plenty of restaurants within a block or two of the University of California campus.

The Nortwest Folklife Festivals, held every Memorial Day weekend in Seattle since the mid-1970s are free of charge. As far as food and drink are concerned, there are concession stands on the Center grounds, or you can go to any of a number of pubs and restaurants in the area. Or you can bring your own. What you spend on consumables is entirely up to you. And if you want to purchase some of the performers' CDs, they usually cost a bit less than you'd pay for them in a record store and no on is holding a gun to your head making you buy anything. They're still going strong and they're still free of charge.

Been there. Done that. Sorry, Conrad. You're complaining about a problem that doesn't exist.

Don Firth