Kent State and WKSU are presenting students and members of the community with the message: “You don’t know folk” for the 45th anniversary of the Kent State Folk Festival taking place Sept. 21 to 25.

“A lot of people think they aren’t fans of folk, but they really are,” WKSU marketing associate Anne VerWiebe said. “It’s not the kind of music that you walk past and it doesn’t affect you; it’s the kind of music that will stick with you and make you want more.”

The festival will include five days of events held all around Kent. Students have the option to purchase reduced tickets to the four main performances and will be able to participate in free activities including the Folk Alley ‘Round Town, a community-wide folk celebration and 41 free workshops in the Student Center.

VerWiebe said the festival isn’t just for people that recognize themselves as fans of folk.

“It is just music,” VerWiebe said. “Just really good, fun music that you’ll remember because it’s something that you haven’t heard before a million times.”

The main performers

The festival will kick off Wednesday, Sept. 21 at the University Auditorium at Cartwright Hall. The first musical performers will be the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops. The band came together as a group of young people who wanted to learn more about the history of the banjo in black America. 

“Now they are reinterpreting R&B and popular songs in a way that is acoustic and a lot more immediate,” VerWiebe said. “When you don’t have electric instruments, autotune or something else that is messing with the sound, what you come back to is the music. The truth of the music and the honesty of the music.” 

The other three musical performances will be held at The Kent Stage.

Folk Alley ‘Round Town

VerWiebe said the Folk Alley ‘Round Town has been increasing in popularity over the years. 

“The city told us that the ‘Round Town is second only to Halloween in the number of people downtown at one time,” VerWiebe said. 

More than 55 musicians will perform at 36 venues throughout Kent, all of which are free to attend. A few of the venues include: the Brewhouse Pub, Europe Gyro, Firefly, Franklin Square Deli, the Kent Free Library, The Loft, Ray’s Place, Scribbles Coffee, Water Street Tavern and the Zephyr.

Robert Finch, manager of the Water Street Tavern said the Folk Festival ‘Round Town night is traditionally pretty popular, so he expects to be at capacity. Finch said it is a good opportunity for students to expand their musical horizons. The Tavern’s line up includes some of the weekend’s most popular bands like The Speedbumps, the Twistoffs and Joe Grushecky and the House Rockers. 

“We look forward to it every year,” said Finch. “It’s just another good opportunity for the community and the students to mix and mingle and find out more history about how the city has been the last 30 or 40 years.”

David Ullman graduated from Kent State University in 2008. He will perform at Scribbles Coffee Friday at 8 p.m. This will be Ullman’s fifth year playing the festival.

“I think the world of it,” Ullman said. “And am awfully honored to be involved.”

A Northeast Ohio native, Ullman was living in Raleigh, N.C., when he heard about Bob Dylan playing Kent’s Folk Festival in 2003.

“I was surprised hearing about this place back home that’s such a cool place for music,” Ulman said.

When he came back to Ohio, his choice to attend Kent State University was partly based on Kent’s musical reputation.

The workshops

The festival has 41 free workshops being held Saturday in the Kent State Student Center. These workshops range from ukulele and clogging lessons, to presentations on topics such as protest songs and stringed instrument maintenance. 

“It just gives everyone a chance to try new stuff and hang out,” VerWiebe said. 

Contact

Brittany Hill at [email protected].