Worth nurturing

It’s too bad the Fort Frances Folk Festival won’t be held this year but it is encouraging to see those who helped organize the event last year aren’t willing to give up on it just yet.
Fuelled by the youthful enthusiasm of then Fort High students Alex Marusyk and Joelle Barron, the local teens did an excellent job conceiving, planning, and pulling off the inaugural folk festival in 2009. But with both leaving the area to pursue their post-secondary dreams, it proved difficult to maintain the momentum and last year’s event, though attracting its fair share of acts, failed to draw a big crowd.
Part of the problem may have been the change in date from the week before the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship to the Sunday of the Emo Fair. But clearly a better marketing plan also was needed to generate the “buzz” necessary to stage a successful event. As organizers of major events like the bass tournament, Canada Day, and the fall fair well know, getting the word out has to start months in advance.
The other factor, of course, is whether there’s enough interest locally in staging an annual folk festival—which is precisely what organizers hope to gauge over the coming weeks, creating a Facebook page called “Friends of the Fort Frances Folk Festival” for people to join and show their support. If there is, the plan is to strike a committee by mid-November to get things rolling for next year.
Let’s hope that’s the case. Fort Frances certainly could use another major summer event to give area residents something else to do, as well as attract visitors to our community. Folk festivals are very popular elsewhere and there’s no reason why one can’t enjoy similar success here, particularly given the wide array of local musicians in need of a venue to showcase their talents.
The Fort Frances Folk Festival was an excellent idea to help our community be vibrant and “out there.” It should be nurtured to its full potential, not allowed to wither away.