music, crafts, food festival

 

Here is a 3-photo stitched view of the evening audience at the 10th annual Great Lakes Folk Festival, http://greatlakesfolkfest.net, in East Lansing, Michigan (48823) which began with the first three years funded as the site of the National Folk Festival (Smithsonian Institution) and which is notable for featuring musicians who play the standards as well as some personal adaptations and interpretations. The stage photo shows the Michigan-based Bluegrass ensemble called Detour.

The stage also featured sign-languge support so the lyrics and introductory comments could be picked up by those in the audience who can sign. The range of listeners went from in-utero to elderly fans.

Looking over the rows of music lovers the common delight unifies them. Yet when the applause ends and they move back into their individual lives, all the abiding concerns cover them again: financial worries, job insecurities, interpersonal anxieties or comforts, rising or falling self-confidence and spirits heavy, average or light.