Claire and I have had a busy couple of weeks ‘folking it up’. We headed off to Yellowknife’s Folk on the Rocks a couple weekends ago and we spent this last weekend at the Calgary Folk Fest.

[caption id="attachment_677" align="alignleft" width="125" caption="Folk on the Rocks Beer Garden"][/caption]

Folk on the Rocks certainly sets itself apart in terms of location. The festival is held on the beach by a big lake. It’s the only festival I’ve been to where you get to trek from stage to stage through the sand instead of the grass.

The Yellowknife festival is also much smaller than any of the other festivals we’ve been to, and this made for a more intimate atmosphere. (Which we like.) They also have a stage in the beer garden! (Which we like.)

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Our favourite band of the festival was country band Swank from Vancouver.

Unfortunately there was no kettle corn at Folk on the Rocks, but there was a plethora of bison products, which more than made up for it.

Calgary Folk Fest is one of our favourite festivals and this year didn’t disappoint. The line up was phenomenal! One of the aspects of the Calgary festival that Claire and I have always appreciate is the diversity in musical acts. Although some of the artists may not be traditionally recognized as ‘folk’ musicians, I think that Calgary’s willingness to embrace a broader definition of what folk music might look and sound like really benefits the festival, and makes for some very interesting workshops.

[caption id="attachment_678" align="alignleft" width="115" caption="Calgary Folk Fest"][/caption]

Calgary was also exciting because we got to see some familiar faces. A few of our favourite acts from the Winnipeg festival (The Deep Dark Woods, Marc Berube and the Patirotic Few, Iron and Wine, and Bellowhead) also played in Calgary. As usual we discovered some great new bands, like Luluc from Australia  as well as Alberta’s own Michael Bernard Fitzgerald Although I seriously don’t know how I didn’t already know about this guy.

The food at Calgary was great. I ate green onion cakes for breakfast more than once.
Next up is our hometown festival: Edmonton Folk Music Festival. I’m looking forward to Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Danny Michel, The Swiftys, and Kathleen Edwards.

Folk on!