"According to Don that atmosphere means irresponsible tossing of trash."

That's not what I said, Conrad. What I am saying is that any large crowd invariably leaves a fair amount of detritus behind it, and this is not limited to people attending folk festival, free or otherwise. It's just a fact of life, and someone needs to clean up after an event of any size. Even in a concert hall where people have paid mucho bucks to hear music of any kind, there are usually people who leave programs and ticket stubs behind. Movie theaters have candy wrappers and popcorn containers left behind after every movie showing.

It happens to be one of the side-effects of any gathering of any size. YOU'VE never tossed an empty Milk Duds box under your seat in a movie theater, have you Conrad?

There are huge folk festivals like the Newport Folk Festivals and the Northwest Folklife Festivals, some charging admission and others free; there are concerts in theaters and concert halls of various sizes, usually charging admission but sometimes free; there are coffeehouses and clubs, some with cover charges and minimums and some not; there are house concerts in intimate, comfortable settings, some paid and some free of charge. And there are parties—"hoots"—where a group of friends get together somewhere to sing for each other just for fun.

I see no good reasons to change something that has been working fine for decades and is still working fine, just because some self-styled "visionary artist" has developed a bad case of myopia and can't see beyond his own parsimonious desires.

Don Firth