Got this email from the CVFF Board a couple weeks ago:

Dear Friends of the Champlain Valley Folk Festival,

I am sending this note out far and wide, to encourage you to be part of the 30th anniversary Champlain Valley Folk Festival.

If we can gather a critical mass of presenters, musicians, hosts, and so on, we can commit to go ahead. If we don't, we will sadly have to admit defeat and cancel the idea of a weekend festival for another year. As of now, we have only a few.

If you have not heard, this Summer marks the 30th anniversary of the Champlain Valley Folk festival. I'm sure you already know too well the story of how this ship almost sank.   But we few stalwarts stayed aboard and kept bailing until the lifeboats were all launched. We were able to flag down a number of passing ships to come alongside and tow us into safe harbor. Together we made it ashore.

But 30 years is a long time and we are suffering financial commitment burnout by old sponsors, and time commitment burnout of those few stalwarts. Many of our long time friends have done their share and moved on, or lost hope, or lost interest. So we need to start over if we are to survive.

Why bother? When we ran our survey and long term planning process last year, there were several themes that came back over and over.   People told us what is special about CVF.

There's the Champlain Valley part: we are tied to the Lake itself- sailing in, or being able to swim between dances. And CVF should be local- showcasing the music that either springs out of the old local traditions-- like contras, fiddle music, shapenote singing, Chanson, and the like, no matter where the musicians come from. Or, it is new music made by local musicians influenced by the old traditions (the examples that come to mind are Daisy Mayhem, the Sevens, Summit School, Mad Robins, Young Traditions- and you- you know who you are.)

There's the Folk part. Not just capital-F Folk style and traditions, but small-f folks. We are small enough to give both performers and audience friendly and individual attention. Being small also tends to blur the line between performer and audience. These folks really care, and they support each other. Ever shared lunch with Pete Seeger? Me too.

And there's the Festival part, the mix of different styles, different ages, different instruments. All put together to see what comes up. Who knows what sort of workshop you might have ended up in if your first choice is too full, or what concert you ducked into when there was a sudden (brief, of course) rain shower.

So here we are, on the 30th anniversary. The work has been done to get back on our financial feet. The work has been done to find a possible location, a possible date. But we have a short time to plan. We need a new model. More like a mosaic, more like a jam session, more like a farmers market, more like a pick-up band.

We have an opportunity to make a new little festival grow out of the spirit and fond memories that we have built over the last 30 years. So we are offering that opportunity to you. Would you like to create part of the festival?

What will your part be?   A dance? A concert? A workshop? We are hoping to start to grow a new festival by putting together a number of sections like this. Can you fill a stage; can you sell those tickets?   Do you have a sponsor that would underwrite a showcase of your favorite style? You can be the producer, the presenter, the stage host, or the master of ceremonies of your part of this crazy idea.

The important idea is this: If many people take on part of the organizing, then we have many small joyous jobs instead of one or two big overwhelming jobs.

Here is what we have so far: We are fortunate to have the offer of the Rock Point School to partner with us to present the festival. For those of you who don't know, Rock Point is a small secondary boarding and day school, tucked in between the Burlington High School campus, Burlington's North Beach park, and the Rock Point Episcopal Center. Inside, there is the former chapel space that could fit about 100 people, a big library, and several big classrooms. And there is room outside to set out our infamous dance floor under a tent, if we can fill it. Because of its location, we hope that Rock Point School is an ideal place to start again at small scale and see what happens as we build for the future.   As other competing festivals have come and gone, schedules shift. The closest date to "our" traditional weekend that makes sense for us and for Rock Point is July 19th, 20th, 21st, 2013 .

So this comes down to a request for proposals. What will your part of the new Champlain Valley Folk Festival look like? Let's talk. Please forward this to anyone that you think can contribute to part of the festival.

Don't forget that we are nearing our deadline.

Replies, questions, proposals, and inquiries about our sanity gratefully accepted by email to info@cvfest.org.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

The CVF board.