NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Leah Jackson (jacksonl@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

7/13/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-For 25 years the Natchitoches-Northwestern Folk Festival has annually highlighted a facet of Louisiana's folk culture and, as the event's silver anniversary is celebrated, organizers say the Festival is not only culturally significant but has a financial impact on local tourism. The Festival was started to provide a forum for those who practice heritage art forms and to preserve and document rural ethnic traditions. It annually draws thousands of visitors to the area, some of whom have made the trip to Natchitoches since the very first Festival.

Dr. Lisa Abney, who has directed the Festival since 1999, said the university community and volunteers from the city and parish have been instrumental in supporting the Folk Festival, both financially and through volunteers. About 500 volunteers work the two-day event, taking tickets, providing information to visitors and helping with many other tasks.

Ticket sales usually number between 3,000-5,000. That attendance does not include guests that accompany musicians and craftspeople and people who work for the vendors. Surveys indicate close to 30 percent of the visitors to the Folk Festival are from outside Natchitoches. The Festival has an economic impact of up to $1 million.

"Cajun dancers love Cajun dancing so much they come from all over Louisiana, Arkansas and from Texas so they can hear six or seven Cajun bands for $7 a day," Abney said. "Same thing with the Bluegrass folks. Then there's the fiddle contest. The guests appreciate the air-conditioning and the family environment."

Dollars and cents aside, the Festival is foremost a cultural forum.

Organized in 1980 by Dr. Don Hatley and Dr. Hiram F. "Pete" Gregory, the Folk Festival was closely modeled after the American Folklife Festival hosted by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The Festival debuted with a focus on cotton. Over the years, festival themes have emphasized the influence of timber, railroads, north Louisiana foods, north Louisiana music, Spanish culture, Francofete, Louisiana's military and this year's theme, Louisiana's Neutral Strip.

"What we attempted to do was place the spotlight on the people with a very strong ethnic background focusing on arts and crafts and music," Hatley said. "The focus was on ethnicity in rural communities. We have focused on the African-American community, the Creole community and on occupational groups."

The Folk Festival was not intended to be an entertainment-oriented event, according to Gregory, but as a vehicle for Louisiana heritage preservation and education.

"There has always been a fieldwork component," Gregory said. Because it was a university affiliated festival, it applied the disciplines of folk life and anthropology."

"Our aim has been to present and document the folk culture of Louisiana," Abney said. "The cultural groups decide what they want to share and don't want to share. We assist them and we guide thembut they know their culture best. We provide a contextthrough narratives and cultural displays."

Much of the folk art highlighted during the Festival has become quaint or archaic in today's technology-driven world. Influential folk artists in Louisiana include artisans, musicians, storytellers, dancers, ethnic food specialists, quilters, herbalists and others who specialize in an art form learned through example or explanation from his or her family or community. The Festival not only provides a venue for the folk artists to sell their work, but also documents and records the individuals and their techniques. In doing so, the public has come to realize the value of folk crafts, and as Gregory noted, hopefully has inspired young generations to practice the arts of their grandparents.

"Some people criticize folk festivals as a genre," Abney said. "We make a concerted effort to tie what we do at the Festival to individual lives."

This year's Festival will be held in Prather Coliseum on the Northwestern State University campus July 16-17 and will feature music, crafts and food. Ticket prices are $7 per day for adults; $3 for children age 7-12. Children six and under are admitted free. An all-event pass is available for advance purchase for $12. Group rates are available, but must be pre-arranged and pre-purchased. For more information, call the Louisiana Folklife Center at (318) 357-4332 or visit www.nsula.edu/folklife.

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