Folkfest or Ethnic Festival

[poolpimp911]

Now that it is almost done which one do you think was better. Like in food, bands,and people. Anything that you thought was good or bad??

For me it was the Ethnic Festival!! Way cheaper and better food. To me it looked like there was a ton of more people at the Ethnic Festival. One thing I would rather support LOCAL people then people that travel all over the states just to do this and make a quick buck. I think that the city of Johnstown should be ashamed for taking this out of the Cambria City where it has been there for years and has been a success every time that they have had it down there. About the only draw back for me is the long walk from one side to the other but with that many things to do and see, all of those years it was worth it.

When I was down at the Folkfest it looked like a ghost town. There were so man booth's and nobody doing anything. They made it too corporate. It was supposted to be about our heritage, and I think the city of Johnstown lost site of that and went for the ALL MIGHTY DOLLAR.

[JayBird]

Hmmm...I went to Folk Fest last night. Alcohol was $3 for a 16oz. draft or Barcardi Limon. Some places has $3 for 12oz Bud products. Anyway, the place didn't accept cash on the spot...you needed tickets or "Scrip" as they called it. The food was good...$6 for a gyro...mmmm...best food invented!

I talked to people at the Ethnic Fest and it was $1.50 or $2.00 for a 24oz. draft. Sounds like the food was also a little more reasonably priced. The bands at Folk Fest were pointed more towards the older "folk"!

Not sure about the Ethnic Fest, but the Folk Fest didn't really have any merch or crafts or anything to really buy...just t-shirts.

All in all I enjoyed the Folk Fest...$3 Barcardi 160z. drafts...beats paying $3.50 for a 12oz. bottle at a bar!

[Heywood]

With JAHA paying Jimmy Sturr (sp?) $8,000 to come in and play, we're lucky we aren't paying $15.00 for a GYRO. Just ask the Lamb Shucker who did not make a single sale as of saturday afternoon at the FolkFest...Some statistics....The Johnstown Police estimated at least 15,000 people each both Friday and Saturday nights on 5th avenue between Power St. and Chestnut St. That's barely giving anyone room to breath. My friends, that's a party and certainly a message!!! I would say that the following year will be laden with requests of MSGR. Balta ( St. Mary's and Ethnic Fest Spokesmen) for vendors and booths next year. I am certain after speaking with him for sometime that he will not allow any vendors who intend on RAPING the public...ie the infamous $8 bloomin' onion or the $5 fruit smoothie...

[Jim Price]

I got to take in both festivals over the weekend. A few thoughts...

Cambria City Ethnic Festival - I was there both Friday and Saturday evening. It definitely drew people, obviously a lot of people are loyal to this neighborhood as hosts for a festival! The food and refreshments were very reasonably priced, and I was able to catch a number of the local bands and artists performing. Although I didn't get to catch any of the more traditional ethnic performers (the junior tamburitzens or the Irish folk), I was glad to see the Cambria City Ethnic Festival feature some of these performers, as a partial return to the more traditional music flavors the original National Folkfest was about. Free parking was another big plus (although the lot behind the Sheetz was a pretty chaotic place by late Saturday afternoon, probably having someone there to direct traffic might be a good idea for next year). I, for one, never minded the walking several blocks between performance stages; the exercise helped burn off all those pierogi and haluski calories! I heard the local police were pretty nitpicky, and I know they made Ace's Lounge shut down Ribbon Grass' performance early on Saturday night due to overcrowding (I've seen Ace's more crowded than this particular show, is this the first time the Johnstown police noticed?).

Johnstown Folkfest - I attended Folkfest for most of the day on Saturday. Folkfest had its share of crowd, although it did seem a little down from before. The performance stages being closer together wasn't a bad thing, as it was easier to go back and forth between stages and catch more performers. There was less shade at the new Folkfest location, and full sunlight on Saturday afternoon made things hot and uncomfortable (Annie McCue had as many people watching her in the shade behind the stage as she had in the seating area in front of the stage). As expected, the entertainment was very good (I particularly enjoyed Seven Nations and Annie McCue). It should be noted that although Folkfest does bring in entertainment from across the country, it did include at least a few local/regional performers - Grinning Mob, Jazz In Your Face; Ernie Hawkins, The Mavens and Gospel Lights (all from western PA); and The Newlanders and Little Buddy (based in eastern PA, but "Little Buddy" Mark Kormanik is a Conemaugh native). And although from Washington state, Hot Club Sandwich also featured a Johnstown native on fiddle. The national names at Folkfest are a good thing, as they attract visitors and tourism from out of the area. Food and refreshment prices were slightly higher, but keep in mind that the purpose of the scrip ticket system is that part of the monies from scrip sales goes back into Folkfest to fund the entertainment; thus keeping the event free admission. So I don't have a problem paying a little more for food at Folkfest (a LITTLE more, not a LOT more), because it's supporting the event. As for parking, it was pretty chaotic trying to locate a space. I didn't want to shell out $5 at the parking garages, since I didn't plan on being there all day; fortunately I found an available space along Market Street about a block away from Folkfest (street parking at the meters was free all weekend). It would be nice to see a shuttle service to take folks between all three festivals (Cambria City, Folkfest and Log Cabin), so you could park in one place and attend all three events; it would reduce traffic and parking hassles.

Ultimately, while I was disappointed that Folkfest moved out of Cambria City, I think a lot of positives can come out of it. Johnstown gets a new festival, and one more geared towards the traditional and hometown flavor of the original National Folkfest. Johnstown Folkfest can continue to do its thing, and continue to attract outside visitors and tourism to the Johnstown area. Plus - according to JAHA - the new festival park can be used for other events during the course of the year. As with any changes and new events, there will be growing pains; but I think the organizers of both events will study notes and work to improve their respective events for next year. I plan to be back at both next year!

I also made it to the Forest Hills Festival in St. Michael on Sunday (before I headed to Star Lake for the Allman Brothers). This festival had a very good crowd as well.

[tonefight]

I made it to the Ethnic Fest Friday to hang out and Sun to play, I thought it was a good festival especially since it was thrown together in a month and with very little advertising.

Now I didn't make it to Folk Fest simply cause I had to many fellow musicians and friends involved in the Ethnic Fest.

It seemed the crowd at the Ethnics Fest was mostly under age 40 where in years past I've noticed alot of folks over that age, It seemed like the party crowd went to The Ethnic Fest? Was it a party atmosphere at Folk Fest ot a little more Mellow?

[Jim Price]

It seemed a little more mellow at Folkfest, although The Recipe had a good party going on at their Saturday show. I didn't get to see Chubby Carrier, so I don't know how the zydeco party was.

At least based on what I saw, I think the crowd was pretty even as far as age distribution at both events.

[DisturbedViking]

Ethnic Fest, even tho I did not go to the Folk Fest. I knew more bands at the Ethnic Fest, plus i heard it was cheaper and over all better.

[Punkinhead]

Ethnic fest was better, the food was better...the food at the folk fest was pretty much standard fair concessions....