About Falcon Ridge
Apr. 14th, 2005 11:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jianantonicMost of you have heard this all before, but this is for those of you that might consider a special trip this summer to Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Who, what, when, where, why, and how. That kind of thing.
I first heard of FRFF from the Eddie From Ohio email list. At the time, I wouldn't call myself a folk fan, but I listened to a lot of EFO. I wasn't really familiar with many other folk artists. The people on the list were really talking up the festival, saying how fun it always is. When someone offered her tickets up for sale, I jumped on them, and Jeremy and I went to our first FRFF in 2003. We went just to see EFO, having no idea how huge the festival was. We camped with others from the edhead list that we'd never met before, but they were very warm and welcomming. Especially Shelly, who is now like, my favorite person ever. Anyway, I was thrilled to learn that Arlo Guthrie was playing there, too, and we took recommendations from campmates on who else to see. We arrived on Wednesday night (the fest runs Thurs-Sun), so we had some time to work out a preliminary schedule and make nice with the other campers.
There are four stages at Falcon Ridge. There's the main stage, where all the individual artist sets are held. All the artists at the festival get one hour on the main stage, and usually two or more workshop appearances. There are a few workshops held at the main stage, too. The workshop stage is the second-most popular, probably. The workshops are usually three artists either playing together or taking turns to do songs of a certain theme. My favorite workshop was the one where they all played peace-themed songs. It was beautiful. There are always "funny song" workshops, too. The best song I ever heard there was Da Vinci's Notebook's "Title of the Song." So good.
In addition to the main stage and workshop stage, there's the family stage, where all the songs are family-friendly, and the dance stage. Every hour or so, there's a new theme at the dance tent. I learned how to square and contra dance at Falcon Ridge, and it is such a blast. You dance with a lot of strangers, and a lot of same-sex partners, and it's SO MUCH FUN. The music also KICKS ASS. Airdance was my favorite dance tent band. A lot of the dance tent bands are dance bands only, and you won't see them on the main stage. Lots of the people at the dance tent are amazingly skilled dancers, and it's sooo much fun to watch them do what they love. I'm not very good, so during the advanced dances, I just watch. The dances are always open to anyone, but there are different skill levels for different dances.
Other important parts of FRFF are your campsite, the Ice Man, the vendors, and the Budgiedome. The various campsites are mostly groups of people there to support the same band. I camp with the EFO fans. There are also groups of college alums and family reunions going on at FRFF. The campsite is where you spent your mornings and nights. There is lots of peace and love at the campsites. There are always spirits, guitars, and occassionally weed. I don't smoke. Bands stop by all the time. We partied with Eddie From Ohio, Lowen and Navarro, DVN, and Girlyman made an appearance. Everyone will tell you that the Pirate's Patch (the name of our camp) is the best because Shelly (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
phantomsmom) is in charge. She's been doing the fest thing for a while now and she's tight with all the bands. She's also the SHIT. We love Shelly.
The Ice Man is the guy on the truck who brings ice. It's $2/bag, and you want ice. Trust me. It's fucking hot. "IIIIiiicccccccccceeeeeeeeeee" will become music to your ears.
The vendors are awesome. Great hippie clothes, great vegetarian food (okay, there's some meat, but it's totally veg-friendly), great music, great jewelry, great hammocks. You can sit in the hammocks. The hammock guys are nice. The food is DEEEElicious. Hippies know how to make a wrap. YUM. You'll never eat better food than when you're at FRFF. The people at your campsite will be cooking, too, if they're good for anything.
The Budgiedome is the big gray tent at the top of the hill. You can see it in the aerial shots on the official website. It's where the after-hours music scene is. The main stage is done by 1am, and then a lot of people trudge up the hill to the Budgiedome. A lot of popular bands that weren't invited to the year's fest will play a set up there, and Russell Wolf is always playing up there (but I think the general consensus is that we don't really like Russell Wolf), as well as lots of other lesser-knowns. It's supposedly a great time, but I always fall asleep. This year I plan to hang out more up there.
I forgot to talk about the showers. They're fun. You stand in line for a long time, and you make friends with the other people in line. Everyone at FRFF is friendly. Every last person. It's like a law of Falcon Ridge. It's totally cool to come by yourself because you WILL make friends. Some of my best friends are people I met at Falcon Ridge.
And there's the music. You get four days of concerts for $110 max. Some concerts cost that much for one set. It's such a deal. ALL of my favorite bands now are FRFF performers. And if you find you don't like the music, there's always someone hanging out at the campsite - you don't spend all your time at the stages, after all. But there will be something you like, cause there's a huge variety, and it's such a fun, happy atmosphere. You don't have to be an edhead to camp at our site. We're very welcomming. Just let us know ahead of time what size your tent is so that we can save some space for you and give you directions. It's hard to find things if you don't know what you're doing, because the festival is HUGE. It's huge because it's AWESOME.
Here's the website again: www.falconridgefolk.com
And the community:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
falconridge
This year I'm going up on the 20th of July and coming down on Monday the 25th. If you can get the time off, definitely, DEFINITELY make the trip. It's soooo worth it.
Hope that helps give you an idea of why I love this thing so much. And I REALLY hope you can come, because the more, the merrier.
Peace.
I first heard of FRFF from the Eddie From Ohio email list. At the time, I wouldn't call myself a folk fan, but I listened to a lot of EFO. I wasn't really familiar with many other folk artists. The people on the list were really talking up the festival, saying how fun it always is. When someone offered her tickets up for sale, I jumped on them, and Jeremy and I went to our first FRFF in 2003. We went just to see EFO, having no idea how huge the festival was. We camped with others from the edhead list that we'd never met before, but they were very warm and welcomming. Especially Shelly, who is now like, my favorite person ever. Anyway, I was thrilled to learn that Arlo Guthrie was playing there, too, and we took recommendations from campmates on who else to see. We arrived on Wednesday night (the fest runs Thurs-Sun), so we had some time to work out a preliminary schedule and make nice with the other campers.
There are four stages at Falcon Ridge. There's the main stage, where all the individual artist sets are held. All the artists at the festival get one hour on the main stage, and usually two or more workshop appearances. There are a few workshops held at the main stage, too. The workshop stage is the second-most popular, probably. The workshops are usually three artists either playing together or taking turns to do songs of a certain theme. My favorite workshop was the one where they all played peace-themed songs. It was beautiful. There are always "funny song" workshops, too. The best song I ever heard there was Da Vinci's Notebook's "Title of the Song." So good.
In addition to the main stage and workshop stage, there's the family stage, where all the songs are family-friendly, and the dance stage. Every hour or so, there's a new theme at the dance tent. I learned how to square and contra dance at Falcon Ridge, and it is such a blast. You dance with a lot of strangers, and a lot of same-sex partners, and it's SO MUCH FUN. The music also KICKS ASS. Airdance was my favorite dance tent band. A lot of the dance tent bands are dance bands only, and you won't see them on the main stage. Lots of the people at the dance tent are amazingly skilled dancers, and it's sooo much fun to watch them do what they love. I'm not very good, so during the advanced dances, I just watch. The dances are always open to anyone, but there are different skill levels for different dances.
Other important parts of FRFF are your campsite, the Ice Man, the vendors, and the Budgiedome. The various campsites are mostly groups of people there to support the same band. I camp with the EFO fans. There are also groups of college alums and family reunions going on at FRFF. The campsite is where you spent your mornings and nights. There is lots of peace and love at the campsites. There are always spirits, guitars, and occassionally weed. I don't smoke. Bands stop by all the time. We partied with Eddie From Ohio, Lowen and Navarro, DVN, and Girlyman made an appearance. Everyone will tell you that the Pirate's Patch (the name of our camp) is the best because Shelly (
phantomsmom) is in charge. She's been doing the fest thing for a while now and she's tight with all the bands. She's also the SHIT. We love Shelly.The Ice Man is the guy on the truck who brings ice. It's $2/bag, and you want ice. Trust me. It's fucking hot. "IIIIiiicccccccccceeeeeeeeeee" will become music to your ears.
The vendors are awesome. Great hippie clothes, great vegetarian food (okay, there's some meat, but it's totally veg-friendly), great music, great jewelry, great hammocks. You can sit in the hammocks. The hammock guys are nice. The food is DEEEElicious. Hippies know how to make a wrap. YUM. You'll never eat better food than when you're at FRFF. The people at your campsite will be cooking, too, if they're good for anything.
The Budgiedome is the big gray tent at the top of the hill. You can see it in the aerial shots on the official website. It's where the after-hours music scene is. The main stage is done by 1am, and then a lot of people trudge up the hill to the Budgiedome. A lot of popular bands that weren't invited to the year's fest will play a set up there, and Russell Wolf is always playing up there (but I think the general consensus is that we don't really like Russell Wolf), as well as lots of other lesser-knowns. It's supposedly a great time, but I always fall asleep. This year I plan to hang out more up there.
I forgot to talk about the showers. They're fun. You stand in line for a long time, and you make friends with the other people in line. Everyone at FRFF is friendly. Every last person. It's like a law of Falcon Ridge. It's totally cool to come by yourself because you WILL make friends. Some of my best friends are people I met at Falcon Ridge.
And there's the music. You get four days of concerts for $110 max. Some concerts cost that much for one set. It's such a deal. ALL of my favorite bands now are FRFF performers. And if you find you don't like the music, there's always someone hanging out at the campsite - you don't spend all your time at the stages, after all. But there will be something you like, cause there's a huge variety, and it's such a fun, happy atmosphere. You don't have to be an edhead to camp at our site. We're very welcomming. Just let us know ahead of time what size your tent is so that we can save some space for you and give you directions. It's hard to find things if you don't know what you're doing, because the festival is HUGE. It's huge because it's AWESOME.
Here's the website again: www.falconridgefolk.com
And the community:
falconridgeThis year I'm going up on the 20th of July and coming down on Monday the 25th. If you can get the time off, definitely, DEFINITELY make the trip. It's soooo worth it.
Hope that helps give you an idea of why I love this thing so much. And I REALLY hope you can come, because the more, the merrier.
Peace.
