I was at Old Songs this year. I thought the attendance at the Friday and Saturday evening concerts looked about normal. The weather was quite warm during the day but it never rained and it was actually very pleasant in the evenings.

We stayed at a hotel so I can’t comment about how many people were camping. Some of the daytime workshops seemed to have smaller crowds than usual, but that might just be my particular interests. I did think the bathroom lines seemed a little shorter this year. There seemed to be a few less food vendors, and they weren’t offering quite as much as in the past.

I went to the tribute sessions for both Tony Barrand and Bill Staines and both were very well attended and very moving. My particular interests run towards Celtic, Québecois, and Old Time music, so those were the daytime workshops that I concentrated on. I did also enjoy the additional variety at the evening concerts. It was announced that a few of the performers had tested positive for Covid and weren’t able to attend. I did miss being able to see Beppe Gambetta and John Kirk and Trish Miller, and hope they’re feeling better now.

I had to leave before the final concert on Sunday, but I was able to listen to most of it on Folk Music Notebook on the way home. The radio host did mention that they were technical problems broadcasting the day before.