17th Annual Gays Mills Folk Festival
Features Mix of Folks Styles May 8th – 10th

The 17th annual Gays Mills Folk Festival of Music and Dance will be held May 8 –10th, in Gays Mills, Wisconsin.  The festival includes activities for all ages, beginning with the Friday night square dance, May 8th, 7:00 – 11:00 pm at the Gays Mills Community Building on Main Street.  

The fun continues on Saturday, May 9th with daytime activities in Lion’s Club Park on the banks of the Kickapoo River from 12:00 – 5:00 pm.  Visiting performers will present instructional workshops in African drumming and dance, harmonica, and traditional Irish music.  Park activities will also include an Irish Dance performance by Rince Mo Chroi Irish Step Dancers, an open mic, a fiddle bee, May crown making, a May pole dance, a square dance and a calling workshop.  Good food for sale will benefit the North Crawford High School Honor Society.  Rounding out the afternoon will be an original variety show, “Kickapoo Valley Chautauqua”, presented by local artists David Schmitz and Carl Schlecht.  The piece will feature music, puppetry and theatrics, and will explore the history and culture of the Kickapoo Valley.

The highlight of the festival is the Saturday evening concert, 7:30 pm at the Gays Mills Community Building.  Opening the Saturday night concert will be singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dave Moore.  Dave was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and now lives in Iowa City.  His original songs, which he performs on guitar, harmonica and accordion, are rooted in the traditions of blues, country and Mexican-American music.  His performances serve to keep alive the spirit of American folk music and the collaborations and diversity that make it unique.  Dave tours throughout the United States, does arts education in schools in the Midwest and has appeared on such national radio programs as All things Considered, A Prairie Home Companion, The World Cafe and Live from Mountain Stage.

The second act of the evening will be Matt and Shannon Heaton of Boston, Massachusetts.  Guitarist/singer Matt Heaton and Irish flute player/singer Shannon Heaton have been making Irish music together since their first meeting in Chicago in 1992.  Together, they built up their traditional Irish music skills on Irish flute and guitar in Chicago sessions (learning from greats such as John Williams, Liz Carroll, Brendan McKinney, Denis Cahill, and Kevin Henry).  For years, the two worked as active side players for several Celtic music luminaries, including Robbie O'Connell, Aoife Clancy, Boys of the Lough, Emily Smith, Eamonn Coyne, and Halali.  During a three-year “sabbatical” in Boulder, CO, Matt and Shannon formed the band Siucra with Colorado singer Beth Leachman and later, Vermont fiddler Sam Amidon, putting out three acclaimed recordings. Matt and Shannon make traditional Irish music relevant to American audiences. They embrace the solid Irish roots in their music, play the heck out of their instruments, and aren't afraid to step out and sing from their American musical and social experiences. "We're out to get everything we can out of two musicians…” say Matt and Shannon.  “ The more we put into it, the more we get out of it--and so, we think, do our audiences."
The final performers of the evening will be the Tiyumba Dance Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Tiyumba is headed by choreographer and master dancer/drummer Fatawu Sayibu from the Northern Region of the nation of Ghana in Western Africa.  Fatawu was raised in a drumming family; his traditional dances and use of the talking drum tell the stories of his culture, country, and people.  He is also a mentor to young people back home in Africa - every month he sends a large majority of his earnings back to his dance school in Ghana, providing costumes and instruments, while keeping the children that dance off the streets and connected to their traditional culture and heritage.  The dancers and drummers of Tiyumba are from various regions in Africa, all contributing their individual styles and techniques to the group, creating a diverse, unique, and exhilarating performance!

Adding to the fun of the evening, the concert will be hosted by the semi-local puppeteer/musician duo The Dolly Wagglers (Lindsay McCaw and Adam Cook) who, according to their website, “bring a fresh lowbrow crudeness to the world of puppetry.”!  The evening will also include a silent auction featuring musical instruments, and local arts, crafts and services, and a bake sale with delicious home-made treats and non-alcoholic beverages.

The festival concludes on Sunday, May 10th with a gospel sing in the park from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm.

A weekend pass for admission to all events is $20/adult, $5/child, or $45/family.  Admission to the Saturday night concert only is $15/adult, $5/child.  Gays Mills is located on US Highway 171, just a few miles West of US Highway 61, in Crawford County, Wisconsin.  Camping is available in town.  For more information, see the Folk Festival website: www.gaysmillsfolkfest.org, or call an organizer: 735-4031 (day), or 735-4740 (eve).  The Gays Mills Folk Festival is a project of the Kickapoo Cultural Exchange and is generously supported by Organic Valley Family of Farms of LaFarge, Wisconsin, and WORT radio of Madison, Wisconsin.