The schedule on paper — and official website, since that’s now a thing — for the 50th Alaska Folk Festival that starts Monday looks pretty much the same as it always does.
But there’s plenty of golden anniversary extras including a historical poster exhibit that debuted Friday, a pre-festival show Saturday at the University of Alaska Southeast and a documentary being filmed to capture for the ages Juneau’s landmark annual music event.
There’s also going to be seven days of music performances, dances and other activities selected from the largest pool of applicants hoping to showcase their talents in the festival’s history, Jack Fontanella, an Alaska Folk Festival board member, said Thursday.
“You gotta know that we’ve had more people apply than we have ever had before,” he said. “We have about 140 spaces for performers between the dance hall and the main stage, and we had 100 more applications than that, more than we’ve ever had. Our waiting list is like 100.”
The waiting list would be between 30 and 50 during a typical year, and so far there aren’t many cancellations among folks in booked slots, Fontanella said.
“It all has to do with being the 50th anniversary, so it’s a big deal and lots of people are coming,” he said about the heightened level of performer interest.
The selection process by the board tried to factor the festival’s history into who is featured in the lineup, Fontanella said.
“We put an emphasis on people who used to come all the time, then didn’t and then are coming now, or people who have been coming forever,” he said. “And we call them classic acts — people who really have been involved in the festival for a long time, so they were kind of on the top of the list. And then we filled in from there.”
This year’s guest musicians are Rhiannon Giddens — a performer at the 33rd Folk Festival — and Dirk Powell, who according to the festival’s website attended the event sometime in the 1980s “and has wanted to come back to perform ever since.” Giddens is a two-time Grammy winner who features contemporary works based on historic folk roots, while Powell is a roots musician who has collaborated with numerous well-known musicians on projects.
“Our president, Andrew Heist, came up with (Giddens) and brought it to the board, and we all thought it would be a good idea,” Fontanella said. “Dirk Powell is with her now — they’re on tour together and they’ve toured together before, and he produced one of her Grammy-winning albums from several years back.”
The featured dance band at this year’s festival is The Deke Dickerson Western Swing All-Stars, which according to the festival’s website “combines veteran West Coast and Texas musicians well-versed in the style made famous by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Tex Williams and his Western Caravan, and Asleep at the Wheel.” Suzanne Girardot is the festival’s featured guest caller, a performance activity she has been involved in since 1981.
This year’s festival, as well as notable aspects of its history, will be captured in a 30-minute documentary by local filmmaker Paige Sparks.
“She’s interviewing one of the original people who put the festival together in the beginning, and then somebody’s been coming for a long time, and somebody who’s performing for the first time,” Fontanella said.
Another visual compilation of the festival’s history is an Alaska Folk Festival Poster Retrospective making its debut during this month’s First Friday in the Davis Gallery at Centennial Hall. The posters — which will be printed on metal — honor artists from each decade.
This year’s poster was designed by Crystal Kaakeeyáa Rose Demientieff Worl, a notorious local Alaska Native artist whose work has been featured on items ranging from postage stamps to an Alaska Airlines jet.
A pre-festival performance by various musicians is scheduled from 4-10 p.m. Saturday at the University of Alaska Southeast Recreation Center. As with all Folk Festival performances during the week, the UAS show is free.
The mainstage performances Monday through Friday are scheduled from 6:30-10:15 p.m. at Centennial Hall. A “coffee and jam” is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday. Weekend performances, workshops and other activities are scheduled to begin at 10 am. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
Dances are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and extend past 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
Know and Go
What: 50th Alaska Folk Festival
When: Monday, April 7, through Sunday, April 13
Where: Centennial Hall and the Juneau Arts and Culture Center
Cost: Free
Website: https://akfolkfest.org
