Our Story

With thousands of artists and musicians through the decades, there are boundless stories and tales as tall and beautiful as the trees. Perhaps you spotted David Byrne riding a bike around the island after his sound check, or k.d lang performing in a cowgirl dress with the Reclines early in her career. Did you witness Ongo Trogode playing horns made of hollowed out tree trunks, and hear about how volunteers acquired 200 donated bikes to send to the band’s Central African Republic village? Who can forget Alacie and Lucy’s intense Inuit throat singing, Gil Scott-Heron’s poetry in the rain with an impromptu local backing band, Jann Arden making Janis Ian cry doing a version of Janis’s “At Seventeen” on a session stage, Kris Kristofferson’s mesmerizing solo set or Thievery Corporation’s off-the-charts mainstage show?

These are just some of the well-worn grooves on the 45 Festival album that have been created since  Winnipeg’s bearded hippy Trotskyist Mitch Podolok took Ontario’s Mariposa Folk Festival model west to Calgary and Edmonton as The Travelling Folk Festival and Goodtime Medicine Show in 1980 for Alberta’s 75th anniversary. The following year, it was transferred into the Calgary Folk Club’s capable hands, who dubbed it the Calgary Folk Festival at our current home Prince’s Island Park and valiantly ran it on grit, volunteer steam and a willingness to battle the elements until 1987. The Festival moved indoors during the ’88 Calgary Olympics as folks regrouped (some mortgaging their houses to support the organization), and incorporated the new Folk Festival Society of Calgary.

A proudly tenacious and creative organization, the FFSC recovered from early financial difficulties to develop a nest egg that allowed us to purchase land and build the boutique venue/office space Festival Hall, which opened in 2012. In 2013, with volunteer and City support, we overcame the flood of the century that damaged Prince’s Island and its infrastructure less than 5 weeks prior to the Festival. In 2016, we added Block Heater, a vibrant nomadic festival which has been housed in Inglewood, the East Village and downtown at indoor venues and Olympic Plaza. It has evolved into a significant mid-February oasis that defrosts the winter blues with an inspiring and diverse line-up. We continued programming during the 2020-2021 pandemic in creative virtual ways plus produced Summer Serenades, one of Canada’s first and only live music festivals, in 2021. 

Seasons came and went, with tall tales and festival myths for the ages, but the spirit of the Calgary Folk Music Festival belongs to the passionate audience members (“folkies”) and dedicated volunteers. Each year, volunteers power the show — from pouring suds in the beer garden, managing and operating stages, transporting and feeding artists, setting up and tearing down the site, to scanning tickets, snapping photos, and so much more. Volunteers with decades of experience under their belt span three generations — all passionately committed to crafting the most memorable annual musical experience. Folkies who met at the Festival now bring their children and grandchildren; a couple got engaged on stage with Michael Franti; and neighbours, friends and colleagues from near and far re-unite annually on our bucolic site. It’s this grassroots community spirit that has buoyed the festival since 1980, and what makes the Calgary Folk Music Festival truly one-of-a-kind. 

The Calgary Folk Music Festival is now proudly middle-aged with a modest 16-person full time staff, 12-person volunteer board and 1600-strong volunteer corps who steward an organization that annually programs over 170 artists from around the corner, Canada and the globe. The organization collaborates and partners with community and arts organizations and businesses to deliver magical experiences to diverse audiences year-round as one of Canada’s flagship, trailblazing music organizations with a national and international reach and a broad, cutting-edge programming vision.