After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the strumming of banjos and acoustic guitars once again filled Edgerton Park for the annual CT Folk Fest & Green Expo.
Now in its 29th year, the festival aims to bring a broad range of folk musicians and sustainable artisans to New Haven. Over the course of the weekend, CT Folk drew thousands of attendees to Edgerton Park to hear the tunes of headliners like Valerie June and Oliver Wood, as well as lesser-known local acts. Visitors also enjoyed a range of food trucks, workshops and youth-focused activities.
“It just feels so happy. It’s just a sense of relief and giddiness to be back in the park, which is where we've always done our festival,” Lisa Kaston, board member and former president of CT Folk, told the News. “It's great to see the crowds coming back.”
Although CT Folk has been around since 1989, the lineup has expanded as of late. Board member Anna Grace Barry said that people often associate folk music with “white men with beards playing acoustic guitars on the stage.”
In the last few years, however, the festival has broadened its definition of folk to include jazz, rock and other styles. According to Barry, 50 percent of this year’s performers were people of color. The majority of attendees were white.
“Everyone typically thinks that folk music is pretty much white music, which is not the case,” Assistant Festival Director Typhanae Williams told the News. “There's a lot of people now that are doing folk who are BIPOC, which is pretty cool, because it just shows how music has evolved.”
CT Folk aims to be accessible to the entire New Haven community, including by offering free shuttle buses to the festival. The event itself was free, but $20 donations were encouraged at the entrance.
Kaston noted that CT Folk is also trying to appeal to a broad age range. The festival offered many activities for kids, from yoga to art workshops.
“They’re just running around blowing bubbles and building things, and I'm lying back with a beer listening to music, so it's been fantastic,” said Alex Noble, who brought his eight-year-old and nine-month-old daughters.
In addition to its emphasis on diversity, CT Folk Fest aims to promote environmentalism. Kaston said that the festival started as a fundraiser for the Farmington Rail to Trail Association.
She added that this year’s festival included workshops from nonprofits like Gather New Haven, which discussed sustainable farming, and Reimagining New Haven in the Era of Climate Change, which discussed climate change and grassroots action. Gather New Haven is hosting a free festival in Goffe St. Park on Sept. 18, and Reimagining New Haven is holding a “Climathon” on Oct. 29.
Anna Pickett YSE ’10 represented the Urban Resources Initiative, a local tree-planting nonprofit, at the festival. She said that turnout had been “really wonderful” and that visitors were “enthusiastic” about volunteering. M.A. Lawrence, of the vegan Caribbean restaurant RastaRant, noted that business had been “steady.”
The last CT Folk Fest, in 2020, was held online. This year, the festival expanded to include two days of performances and two stages. Barry said the festival drew about 3,500 attendees on Saturday alone.
“This is what New Haven’s about, right? It’s awesome,” Mayor Justin Elicker, who attended the festival on Saturday, told the News. “So many people coming together to listen to good music, support environmental initiatives … and us being able to do this again, in person together.”
CT Folk also hosts concerts throughout the year.