NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL RETURNS TO BUTTE JULY 10-12, 2009

By The Associated Press - 08/13/2008

It has taken a month but organizers are coming out of shock and getting a handle on what happened in Butte on July 11-13 when Montana hosted the 70th National Folk Festival, the oldest multi-cultural festival of traditional arts in the nation.

Mark your calendars: The 71st National Folk Festival returns to Butte July 10, 11 and 12, 2009. And, in coming years the festival will continue to be held in Butte on the second weekend of July.

After conducting a detailed analysis of aerial photographs taken over the festival weekend, organizers at the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA), who brought the festival to Montana, have concluded that the preliminary attendance figures were low, and that an estimated 75,000 people attended the three-day festival in 2008. "Montana has a hit on its hands," said NCTA Executive Director Julia Olin, "The buzz about the National Folk Festival in Butte has spread across the entire country. Here we are, based in the Washington, DC area, yet I haven't attended a meeting in the last month that someone wasn't talking about the festival in Montana." Other aspects of the event have become clearer with time to help assess the economic impact as well.

The weather was perfect.

Beer sales amounted to more than $67,000.

Pop sales were over $15,000.

Many food vendors sold out.

Performers who performed at the festival sold more that $44,000 worth of their CDs.

Artists who brought their art to the Festival Market enjoyed thousands of dollars in sales at the event.

The crowd gave generously too to the Bucket Brigade that patrolled the festival site trading stickers for donations bringing in $32,383 in cash contributions.

Festival merchandise sold well and in fact continues to sell. If attendees missed out on commemorative merchandise sold at the festival, orders are still being taken, including for T-shirts that list performers by contacting Legacy Branding in Butte at 406-498-6529 or by email at allen@legacybranding.com.

Several local businesses reported that their sales tripled during the festival weekend. Hotels and motels were booked solid throughout the region as were restaurants during the event.

Many area companies and contractors also benefited from the event including ARC Electric, AFFCO Foundry, Hawe Steel, R&M Services, LeProwse Construction, Cretewerx, DTM Stage Productions, Sun Rental, Big Sky Rental, Continental Fencing, Three Bears Alaska, H&H Construction, Spherion, Best Western Butte Plaza Inn, Copper King Hotel, Tucker Transportation, Timberline Security, Insty Prints of Butte, Pit Printers, Triple S Building Supply, Copper City Sign & Awning, and several others.

The immediate feedback from the event from those who attended was that they would return for a longer stay next summer and bring along family and friends.

"Comments from those who attended were overwhelmingly positive and in some cases sounded ecstatic," said George Everett, Mainstreet Uptown Butte Executive Director. "One of the first things many people did when they returned home was to send email saying they would be back next year with their entire family or group of friends. In 2009, word of mouth will be a powerful way that people find out about Butte thanks to this year's fantastically successful festival."

The most frequent question so far has been to ask for the dates of next year's event which are - July 10-12, 2009.

"We have received kudos and a few complaints and many excellent suggestions from attendees, volunteers, and staff about how to make next year's festival even better," said Everett. "We intend to take the time this winter to absorb these comments and incorporate the best suggestions as we work to enhance and expand next year's operation," said Everett.

Again the guiding principle for the National will apply: Admission to all performances is free.

The free festival will again feature seven stages that will host up to 250 of the nation's very finest traditional artists representing a diversity of musical styles and cultural traditions. In the Original Mineyard, with its panoramic view of Butte and the surrounding mountains, a historic headframe ( www.mainstreetbutte.org/headframes.htm) that is a remnant of Butte's days as an underground copper mining center frames the stage of a new outdoor amphitheater Look for the lineup of performers to be set and announced by next spring.

The Montana festival will feature Montana-made -handcrafts in a Montana Arts Marketplace and once again an adjacent First Peoples' Marketplace that will feature Native American artists.

Online applications and details are already available on the web site ( www.nationalfolkfestival.com) for next year's event for anyone who would like to apply to sell art, food or to perform at the 71st National Folk Festival.

Many of the volunteers who helped with the 2008 event have already signed up for next year and festival organizers believe they will be ready for the wide variety of tasks to help put up, operate and then tear down such a large festival site. Volunteers will work 4-hour shifts during the event, and volunteers are then treated to a special celebration provided by the performers at the host hotel, the Copper King Hotel in Butte.

For more details about the National Folk Festival that will return to Butte July 10-12, 2009 visit www.nationalfolkfestival.com.