History of the Akita Folk
Festival
|
The
Akita Folk Festival was the traditional last day of
camp for many years from the late 50's until 1984. Camp would
always end on a Saturday, and the next day would be an afternoon
long "Folk Fest". It was held on the old stage behind
the lodge. A few members of the summer staff would volunteer to
help put it together. In those years, music was a big part of the
camp experience. Many of the staff were accomplished musicians.
So, as an excuse to show off that talent, and give everyone a last
chance to enjoy Akita before Summer's end, we put on the Akita
Folk Festival (AFF). The performers were mainly from the current
summer staff and maybe two or three years back. Audience members
were mainly campers from the current and last few years. We
charged a nominal fee, just enough to cover costs.
In the mid 70's, the old stage finally collapsed, and the wood was
carted away. We had no AFF for a few years. Then in either 1979 or
maybe 1980, a few of us on staff decided we wanted to revive it.
They wouldn't let us build a stage behind the lodge again, so we
spend the summer building a new stage (with electric and lighting
for the first time) on a hillside at Outpost. Since we had so much
more room, we promoted the event to every past camper/staff/First
Community Church member we could think of. It became a huge
success with large crowds, and we actually started to earn a small
profit that we donated for camper scholarships.
By 1985, those of us who had been running it, were past college
age, and too old to be on staff. We tried to recruit new
volunteers but to no avail. The AFF appeared to have run it's
course.
Then, in 2010, some of us old timers were starting to reconnect on
facebook. Particularly on the Camp Akita Alumni page: http://www.facebook.com/
groups/2201487335/
We were writing our Akita memories, when someone asked what ever
happened to the Folk Fest. Before we knew it, we were planning AFF
2011. We changed it from a one-day event to a full weekend
retreat, and brought it back to the lodge hillside. We had alumni
and guests from every decade since Akita opened. We were able to
pay Akita $4,000 for the use of the entire camp (on a weekend they
were expecting no revenue), and donate $3,000 to camp
scholarships.
2014 will be a little different. There will be a
two
day retreat for past Akita staff alumni August
16, 17. The Akita Folk
Fest will be held within that retreat on Saturday afternoon thru
evening.
Hope to see everyone there!
TW |
|
|
|
