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CT Folk Dazzles In Return To Edgerton Park

Danielle Campbell | September 14th, 2022

CT Folk Dazzles In Return To Edgerton Park

CT Folk Festival  |  Culture & Community  |  Edgerton Park  |  Arts & Culture

Valerie JuneValerie June. Danielle Campbell Photos.

With a shimmer of pink reflecting off her holographic cape, Valerie June covered her face and twisted her arms in a loose trancelike motion. Lyrics floated through the warm air, building castles as they bloomed into sentences. Every time the cape fell, it revealed a custom made dress that gleamed with gold glitter. 

Her voice sailed over the music of the band behind her, riding the wave of each note. It was impossible not to be mesmerized by the soothing sound, a balm as it rose across the grass. 

Saturday night, Valerie June was the headliner at a revived and very much rethought CT Folk Fest, which stretched over two full days in Edgerton Park last weekend. Throughout, performances like hers personified how much the festival has transformed in the past three years, as it has rethought its relationship with Black and Latinx musicians—and the West African and diasporic roots of folk music. 

“I feel so grateful because it’s still super rare for a Black female artist to headline festivals like these beautifully brilliant family events that have included me,” June wrote afterwards. During her set, she mentioned that she could count how many times she had headlined festivals on one hand. The CT Folk Fest was her third—and she was feeling thrilled. 

Crowd waiting for Valerie June

Kaia Kater

Top: The crowd waiting for Valerie June Saturday. Bottom: Kaia Kater and musicians.

It got at a larger point that was very much on display. For the festival, which has existed since 1989, there was a still-nascent and long overdue commitment to diversity that flowed from its two stages of acts to its food trucks to craft vendors at the accompanying Green Expo.  

“There was such a great energy this weekend!” said Dan McGurk, a board member and assistant festival director. “All the effort we put into making this fest an experience for all, was given back ten-fold by the attendees, volunteers, staff and artists.”

Over both days the festival featured two stages, spread across the park. There was the Eli Whitney mainstage, which was at the top of the hill near the food trucks and vendors, and the Brewster Stage in a “Kids Village” further down the hill.  From the moment doors opened Saturday, members of the community streamed in, their families in tow.

Denur Crafts Leah Mitula

Leah Mitula of Denur Crafts.

Leah Mitula was one of the many vendors that were in attendance. Her tent, Denur Crafts, featured items such as jewelry and other creations made by mothers in Kenya to help pay to send their children to school. The money is pooled together to raise money for the set number of kids in the program with their mothers.

“They made these things in the same manner you would take a book and read in spare time,” she said. “ So, from time to time, they can sit together, like, you know. Like, your neighbor makes, I make also but primarily they make it at home.”

Sarah Breton Root SpiritCarlo Chinatti CChinatti Ceramics

Top: Root Spirit's Sarah Brenton. Bottom: Carlo Chinatti. 

A few tables over,  Root Spirit creator Sarah Brenton talked to attendees about the  goat milk soaps, beeswax candles, medicine and phone bags, jewelry and other handmade goods on which she is building her business. A few months ago, she just made her business her full time job, and now sells “handmade items with intention.”

Ceramic artist Carlo Chinatti graduated from Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) with a degree in Studio Art concentration in ceramics and a minor in sociology. His booth at the fest featured some of his ceramic art in mug and bowl form. Beside each other, they peeked out at attendees in a vibrant arrangement of blues and browns. 

Haunt the HouseHaunt The House.

Elsewhere, Saturday was full of sun, and families were in and out of the park enjoying the festivities. In the Kids Village, both the young and young at heart listened closely to the Infinite Roots Cultural Drum & Dance group’s drumming circle.The communal beating of the drums floated up and down the hill. 

“It's freeform. It's not traditional, but I use traditional instruments from West Africa, and we just sit down and play, just communal,” said creator Kwamè Henry Jones.

There was a full schedule of artists, on both stages, for the whole weekend—so the vibes flowed throughout the events and vendor tables and food trucks. 

Kuff Knotz and Christine Elise w ECA ChoirKids Village

Top: Kuf Knotz and Christine Elise with the ECA Choir. Video of that performance is below.

As afternoon gave way to evening, CT Folk made it clear that the group was just getting started. Saturday night saw artists on the Eli Whitney mainstage such as Haunt the House, Stephen P Rogers & The Unfinished Hearts, longtime New Haven folksy staple Goodnight Moonshine, Vance Gilbert, Buffalo Rose, the Alpaca Gnomes and of course, a radiant Valerie June. 

Gilbert, who can flow from jazz to folk like it’s nobody’s business, wrapped the audience in his song “Trust.” Later in the evening, he played with Eben Pariser from Goodnight Moonshine for an impromptu collaboration.

“Don’t trust your daughter if she calls your boss by his first name,” he sang. “Don’t Trust the pilot if you find him down on one knee and praying. Don’t trust your butcher if he’s reading vegetarian times.”

Raye ZaragozaRaye Zaragoza.

Sunday, both musicians and attendees returned, staying until late into the evening as the day’s heat gave way to a cooler whisper of fall. Early in the day, Kuf Knotz and Christine Elise took the Eli Whitney mainstage with a special New Haven guest—the Educational Center for the Arts Choir.

“We love to collaborate. So, it was cool to work with the ECA studio singers and get to vibe with them was really special,” Elise said. Normally, the two are based in Philadelphia, although their craft takes them across the country.  

While traveling to different folk festivals, both said they have noticed the change in diversity slowly happening. The CT Folk Fest is part of that, they said. 

“So far, the vibe’s great. Very welcoming. For a Folk Festival it looks more open than most Folk Festivals,” said Kuf Knotz. “But I will say that the more and more we're getting to different folk festivals, they're all starting to slowly change. The dynamic there is changing and that's a good thing.”

Vance Gilbert and Eben Pariser

Oliver WoodTop: Eben Pariser and Vance Gilbert. Bottom: Oliver Wood. 

The other artists featured on the Eli Whitney mainstage Sunday included Raye Zaragoza, Kaia Kater and headliner Oliver Wood. On the Brewster stage was Emery Major, New Haven favorite Manny James, and Latin Americana. 

Mikki Tiffen has been coming to the festival for many years and loves live music. She was present on Sunday with her son, Ross Tiffen, and dog Bella. They enjoy the Green Expo part of the festival as well because it’s for a “good cause,” she said. 

“The Latin Americana was cool. [An] interesting mixture of music styles and Oliver Wood of course. I love the Wood Brothers. They’re great,” she said. 

Mariana Samaniego and mom Maria Jimenez

Maria Jimenez and her daughter, Mariana Samaniego. 

Seventeen-year-old Mariana Samaniego came to the festival with her mother and father. They are a family from Cheshire, and this was her first CT Folk Festival experience. 

“It's a lot of fun,” she said. “There's a lot of good food trucks and the music is good so I'm happy that I got brought here.”

She enjoyed the music even though folk is not a genre she is very familiar with she said. In particular, she enjoyed Latin Americana’s performance and talked about the diversity of the festival.

“It's a really, really diverse festival too,” she said. “There's a lot of stuff from different cultures and stuff I've never really seen before.”

Friends Abigail Dixon and Angelina Seaward drifted around, enjoying the festival together. Dixon is originally from Kentucky, and said she was relieved to see that her cultural experiences down South are still accessible up North. She was also a big fan of the food and the expansive options available from a multitude of cultures.

Seward said she liked the selection of vendors and option of things to buy as well as the kindness of the vendors themselves. She was far from alone: hundreds attended. 

“It was great to see this lineup in action,” McGurk. said. “We took deliberate care to ensure we had deep representation across all segments. The most exciting part of the execution was the talent that shined through.”

 

Click the videos above to get a taste of the music played Saturday and Sunday.