The Washington Square Folk Festival first happened at the park in 2011. Now an annual event, it was the brainchild of previous WSP Administrator Rebecca Ferguson, who, working for the NYC Parks Department, had the idea for holding a folk music event in the park, with a nod to the esteemed history of music in Washington Square. Ferguson produced the event by first connecting with Matt Umanov of the venerated Greenwich Village guitar shop who introduced her to Eli Smith, who has continued to organize the event each year.
Ferguson left the job (quietly) in 2012 (curiously, it took nine months to replace her) — but the Folk Festival has continued on. This year it again takes place at the park’s Garibaldi Plaza on Sunday, September 10th from 1 – 5 p.m. There is a Square Dance! And it′s free!
From this blog, Year One interview with organizer Eli Smith in 2011 introducing the Folk Festival:
This weekend there’s a new music event at the park, the Washington Square Park Folk Festival. The two day event, which began yesterday, is being produced by Eli Smith, organizer of the Brooklyn Folk Festival in Red Hook for the last three years and host of the Down Home Radio Show. The festival was the idea of WSP administrator Rebecca Ferguson who learned of Smith upon asking Matt Umanov — of the eponymous famous guitar shop on Bleecker Street — for a recommendation of someone to produce the show.
In putting together the event, Smith, who grew up in the Village on Barrow Street, said he “tried to bring in musicians who had a history with Washington Square Park.” The festival features musicians such as John Cohen and Peter Stampfel who “have been playing music in Washington Square Park since the 1950′s” as well as newer musicians who have busked in the park. The goal was for a “diversity of sounds and good stuff.”
Six years later, the Festival has been scaled down a bit since then; it is on one Sunday afternoon again this year.
Performance Lineup:
Schedule:
1 pm – The Down Hill Strugglers with John Cohen
1:45 pm – Zeke Schein
2:30 pm – Seyyah
3:15 pm – Bill & the Belles
4 pm – Square Dance!
The festival will open with a special performance by Nora Brown.
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Come on down!
Link to WSP Folk Festival official page.
Previous coverage at Washington Square Park Blog (interviews with Eli Smith):
Washington Square Park Folk Festival – Interview with Organizer Eli Smith | Photos from First Day
Washington Square Park Folk Festival Returns for Year Two at WSP This Weekend (9/15 & 16, 2012)