tell-tale signs

You know you're at a folk festival when…

• so many people have beards this long you stop counting them after you get to 10.

(At first I thought I'd keep a tally of super-long beards, medium-length beards, and plain old scruffy faces… 

but then I forgot and watched the music instead :) )

• People fill a hall to hear a man with a voice and a loop pedal sing about water bears.

(…and did you know water bears can survive in a vacuum? 

…and can survive a hundred years without food or water? Fascinating!)

(…and here's a video clip of the singer, Mal Webb singing about water bears at another festival—very silly!
This song comes with the tiniest of language warnings. My girl didn't even notice it, which never happens.)

• The program for a single day 

is two pages long, 

is this packed, 

and lists a Woodie Guthrie theme concert.

• Chinese Lion Dancers 

steal your friend's shoe

(just because they can).

• Stalls sell everything 

from henna tattoos to hare krishna vegetarian curries

to sno-cones.

(my girl's first sno-cone!…and last. Too sweet and too melty!)

• The performance sheds are decorated with chandeliers.

• A woman from this band plays violin while sitting on a man's shoulders. Wild!

credit

• Bagpipes happen.

• A man plays with a ball on the grass

and makes it look super cool…

(…which my boy would have loved to see, but this day was the beginning of 

a week-long jazz camp adventure, with his dad. Very cool.)

• Hay is everywhere.

• You see a whole lot of violins…

• …  and even more accordions!

Most of all, 

you see a lot of happy faces like these

and you're awfully glad you came. 

:)