Ralph Page |
As Ralph Page later recalled the conversation, they were discussing a recent attempt at a "New England Folk Festival" at Boston Garden which had left them unimpressed. "Suddenly, Mary said, 'Why don't we have a real folk festival?' and so the idea was born -- as simple as that!"
The idea had probably been germinating for a while. That spring, the governor of Massachusetts had held a Conference on Recreation, with leaders from all over the state discussing ways to counteract wartime stress in people's lives and promote understanding between cultures. Successful programs were already underway at the Boston YWCA and at the International Institute. Mary Gillette envisioned a festival where New England's many ethnic groups could share their song, dances, and crafts and present them to a wider audience -- not in a commercial, isn't-this-quaint way, but in a simple, honest, straightforward manner.
It was an idea whose time had come: everyone was enthusiastic. Grace Palmer offered the facilities of the Boston YWCA. Philip Sharples, who in 1940 had founded the Belmont Country Dance Group (one of the first square and contra dance series in the Boston area), joined with Mary Gillette and Ralph Page in calling local leaders to meet and talk it over. Many recreation agencies and ethnic groups sent representatives, who wasted no time in getting down to business. From the start, the Festival Committee agreed to maintain an atmosphere of non-commercialism and high standards of performance and authenticity.
Weaving Demonstration |
Ceramics Demonstration |
Of the performers at the first Festival, the Irish, Lithuanian, Polish, and Swedish dance groups have been coming ever since, as has the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre with its English dancing. Six different groups presented American dances; for many years thereafter, a prominent feature of the Festival was the performing of "ordinary" squares and contras by numerous sets of schoolchildren and adults. Another longtime tradition was a set of dance tunes "just for listening" at each session, played by some of New England's finest old-time fiddlers. The 1944 Festival was more culturally inclusive than some later ones: the program included music of the Wampanoag and Navajo tribes, as well as Negro spirituals and songs from China (nothing from Germany or Japan, though!).
A note at the end of the printed program read: "If you feel this is a valuable endeavor and would like to see it continue, please write the Committee." Whether it was a spate of letters or simply the enthusiasm of the organizers that prompted the action, the Festival became an annual event. The next three Festivals followed the pattern of the first: same site, same time of year. A tradition begun in 1945 and continued for many years was group singing by the audience midway through each session. In 1947 an exhibit of folk costumes, music, and books was so well received that it became an integral part of the Festival. Also in 1947, the craft area had a central theme: work in textiles.
A spring Festival proved more desirable than one in the fall, as most
participating groups followed the academic calendar and a spring date
gave them more time to prepare. The sixth Festival was held in May of 1950,
again at the Boston YWCA, with fewer performances and more time given to
general dancing. There was no craft area.
It was time, the planners felt, to try holding the Festival outside the
Boston area. Worcester was a logical choice: it was centrally located, and
many enthusiastic dancers and leaders lived there. In 1952 and 1953 the
Festival was held at the Memorial Auditorium in that city, with a long list
of sponsoring organizations and individual patrons. Some innovations of those
years have continued to the present: in 1952 craftspeople were first allowed
to sell their wares, and 1953 saw the first ethnic food. The latter
was a far cry from today's cornucopia -- only the Italians, Poles, and
Scots had booths!
The 1955 Festival was also at Tufts. Again the program was expanded, this
time to include a Sunday afternoon workshop, "free to members and only
for members." From 1955 through 1973 this workshop gave NEFFA members a
chance to learn more intricate folk and square dances from well-known
leaders under less crowded conditions. No doubt it encouraged many people
to pay their dollar and become members!
The Festival returned to Worcester in 1956. The printed program listed the
complete schedule for the lower hall, with a different caller every ten
minutes. For the first time we can get an idea of what was being danced:
squares vastly outnumbered contras. The most notable feature of 1956 for
old Festival hands may have been the absence of Ralph Page, who was teaching
contra dances in Japan on a State Department-sponsored tour.
The Festival continued to move around New England: Lowell (Mass.) Memorial
Auditorium in 1963, Manchester (NH) Armory in 1964, and Saugus (Mass.)
High School in 1965. Details varied -- there was no second hall at some
locations, and no Friday night program in Lowell -- but in general, the
tried and true formula worked well.
In 1967, Josephine Bemis, who with her husband Chuck was instrumental
in obtaining the Natick site, instituted a Saturday morning program for
children who were learning international folk dances at school. The
student groups showed each other what they had learned during the year,
then combined for some general dancing. This program, later called the
Jamboree, continued through 1981.
The Festival program continued largely unchanged through the next few
years -- King Philip High School in Wrentham, in 1971; Wellesley High
School in 1972; Brockton High School in 1973. Perhaps the most notable
trend is more visible in retrospect: the number of American dance demonstrations
had been dwindling steadily, and in 1973 there were none. This reflected
the diminishing number of groups that were organized enough field a
demonstration team, yet favored the more traditional square and contra
dances. Western square dancing had reached New England in the late
1940s and was included in NEFFA Festival programs through the mid-1950s,
but since that time the gulf between the styles had widened.
Several changes were made in 1974. For the first time in Natick, a second
hall was opened for dancing. It was referred to as the "Special Hall" for
the first two years, then assumed its current name, the Small Hall. (Gym
equipment was not stored there at that time -- there really was room to
dance!) Friday evening was devoted entirely to continuous "dancing for all":
international folk in the Special Hall, squares and contras in the Main
Hall. The performing dance groups that would have appeared on Friday were
moved to Sunday afternoon, replacing the members' dance workshop. A small
stage was set up in the cafeteria for concerts, puppet shows, and some
dance demonstrations. A Music Hall (the present Exhibits Room) was opened
for jam sessions and a few choral and instrumental workshops. The
spacious Crafts Hall accommodated 37 booths, up from 23 the year before.
The changes in 1975 were few but momentous. The Lower Hall was opened: for
the first time, Festival-goers had to choose among events running simultaneously
in three dance halls and a full-time Music Room. To help folks keep track
of things, a schedule grid appeared in the center of the program booklet
(the grid eventually became a separate sheet that could be carried in a
pocket). And for the first time, contras outnumbered squares in the
sessions devoted to general dancing.
In 1977, the program booklet mentioned outdoor Morris dancing for the first
time, although it had doubtless been done unofficially in prior years.
One short-lived innovation stemmed from the growing trend towards organized
dance bands. At the request of some of these groups, several hours of
general dancing in the Main Hall were assigned to "name" bands, with only
a few slots saved for the Festival Orchestra. For a number of reasons,
including the acoustics in the Main Hall and a desire for a more
inclusive feeling on stage, the experiment was scrapped after one year.
In 1978 the Festival expanded to the Auditorium Stage, used exclusively
for dance workshops that year. The folk music and song program was
expanded too, with a separate "Coffeehouse" in a room off the Cafeteria
(to the right of the food booths). The Small Hall was renamed the Music
Room, although it still hosted many dance events. The old Music Hall became
an Exhibits Hall, for private collections and displays that were not offered
for sale; the vendors' booths in the corridors, formerly called "Exhibits,"
became the Folk Bazaar. For the first time, the Program Committee provided
a full schedule of workshops for children on Saturday and Sunday
afternoons.
In 1979, the Coffeehouse moved to its present location in the school's
music room. The old Coffeehouse was used for several years as a rehearsal
area for dance demonstrations. The program book shows a record number of
organized musical groups: 21, up from 15 the year before. As many younger
names as older ones appeared in the lists of dance leaders and Committee
members.
The fortieth Festival in 1984 was an occasion to look back on many years
of success and to honor the three people generally recognized as founders:
Mary Gillette, Ralph Page, and the late Philip Sharples. At a special
ceremony on Saturday evening, plaques were presented to the surviving
founders, and Ralph Page called old-time contra dances to a group of
dancers who had attended the earliest Festivals.
With a string of successful years in Natick, the NEFFA treasury had money
to spare. During the 1984-85 season, NEFFA awarded $2650 in grants to
support field research on the music of Bulgaria and the Shetland Islands,
new dance series in Rhode Island, and a NEFFA-style festival in Pennsylvania.
The Grants Committee has been funding similar projects ever since.
The 1985 Festival was significant in several ways: the folk music program
expanded into the Chorus Room; the first half-hour contra medley appeared in
the Main Hall; and Ralph Page was no longer alive. His presence as caller,
organizer, and raconteur had colored every previous Festival but one, and
he had a special status as the last founder to remain active in NEFFA
(Mary Gillette had left the area). His passing was mourned by all, but it
was clear that enough people shared his vision to keep the Festival going
for years to come.
Not all of those dedicated folks were New Englanders. The 1985 program lists
callers from New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Missouri, and California.
This is the first real indication of another significant change: since the
mid-1980s, the NEFFA Festival has increasingly served as a gathering place
for contra dancers, musicians, and callers from across North America, becoming
in effect a "national contra dance convention."
During 1986, the NEFFA Board established a Ralph Page Memorial Committee
to continue Ralph's work and memorialize his name. The Committee's first
act was to purchase Ralph's book and record library from his widow,
Ada Novak Page, and donate it to the University of New Hampshire at
Durham. Since 1988, the Committee has run the Ralph Page Legacy Weekend
(renamed in 2000 to the New England Dance Legacy Weekend)
at the University, combining dance workships and parties with seminars
for callers, musicians, and folklorists.
A sharp-eyed observer will see in the 1987 Festival program two indications
of the crowding in the dance halls that had become legendary: the map of
the school shows the "Lower Hall Overflow" as an official area, and a
note appears to the effect that "NEFFA encourages all dancers to
exercise care in their dancing."
In 1989 the program book dropped the complete list of events in the
Main Hall, which had become merely a duplicate of information on the
grid, and replaced it with an alphabetical index of performers. (The
dance performances were still described in detail.) With the Main Hall
used for specialized workshops as much as for general dancing, the shift
in focus was complete. The Festival had grown so big that no single
hall could hold everyone for general or "official" events, and the Main
Hall lost a good deal of its "main" character.
An morris and sword dancing reached a new level of recognition with a two-page
spread in the program giving a complete schedule of performances and
list of 28 teams from as far away as New Jersey, including team colors so
fans could identify their favorites.
In 1994, the 50th New England Folk Festival marked a proud milestone
in NEFFA history. During a special anniversary program in the Auditorium,
NEFFA founder Mary Gillette, who had been flown
in from Ohio for her final appearance at the Festival, was given special
recognition.
The Festival has grown through the years; hundreds of
volunteers serve on a dozen committees to meet the needs of thousands
of Festival-goers of all ages. But throughout its long run, it has held
to its original principles of non-commercialism, high standards of performance
and authenticity, and an inclusiveness that has valued audience participation
as highly as performances. True to its founders' vision and the goals
set forth in its first bylaws, the Festival has done its part "to preserve
folk traditions in New England and elsewhere, and to encourage the
development of a living folk culture."
A strong supporter of NEFFA and its goals from almost the beginning was
Ted Sannella, who died in November 1995.
The Festival of 1997 presented a challenge to all. The school had refinished
the floor in the Main Hall in the fall and required special footwear
restrictions by Festival-goers. A public education campaign was done,
and shoe-cleaning
stations were established outside the Main Hall. Thanks to the cooperation
offered by thousands of people, after the Festival the school
staff remarked that they couldn't tell that there had been a Festival, the
As the Festival Committee became aware of the restrictions and requirement
of the Americans With Disabilities Act, certain changes were made. In 1999,
official programming was removed from The Loft and the South Room, as they
were not accessible to those in wheelchairs. Assistive listening devices were
also available on a limited basis.
Replacing the lost program areas were the North Star Room (used for
discussions, mostly), and the Lyric Room.
In 2001, we opened up the Loft for some supplementary showings of "Paid to
Eat Ice Cream", a video about Bob McQuillen that was produced by David Millstone. An ominious question on the evaluation form asked people about alternate
venues. This was in response to the possible renovation of the High School
that is being considered by the town of Natick.
Just before the 2005 Festival, the town of Natick rescinded permission to use the Lower Hall, as it is now a "Wellness Center" filled with brand new fitness equipment and rubber floor (despite NEFFA's offer to remove and replace the equipment and floor). The Program Committee needed to shuffle the program quite a bit, and the Lower Hall that we could use was actually the Overflow Hall.
In 2006, to address the previous year's problem, we rented a very nice 80'x40' tent and dance floor. The mid-40F degree rainy weather made this a chilly place to dance, but dancers discovered a unique energy and comfort dancing in the open air.
The $12,000 expense for the tent was not one that we can afford on an annual basis, and talk was also in the air about possible sites that could suit our needs better.
By this time the Festival had outgrown both its space at the YWCA and the
loose coalition of volunteers. A set of bylaws was drawn up shortly after
the 1950 Festival and adopted in October; on November 28 the New England
Folk Festival Association, Inc., received its charter. NEFFA's first
concern was to find a larger space; this was done in time for the seventh
Festival, held at MIT in March 1951. There were three sessions -- Friday
evening, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday evening -- setting the
pattern for many years to come. The extra space was a boon: attendance
jumped from 1,700 to 3,000. Audience participation was emphasized, with
short sets of general dancing or singing after every two or three
performances. For the first time, dance leaders from outside New England
were invited. Each session began with a procession of all the
participating groups.
first time, a second gym was opened for continuous dancing. The usual
program went on in the main hall, with the short sets of "dancing for all"
that had become standard, weighting the Festival heavily toward
audience participation. The food area grew from three booths to fifteen; the
printed program included advertisements for callers and folk-related
businesses.
Emcee Ralph Page and NEFFA
President Alan Smith in 1954
After two more years at Tufts, one at Exeter, and another at Tufts, the
Festival moved south of Boston for the first time. The 18th Festival was
held in April, 1962 at Bridgewater State College. Square dancing had
flourished on the South Shore since the late 1940s, and many local people
pitched in to make the Festival a success.
Bridgewater State College
Nothing daunted, the Committees got up, dusted
themselves off, and headed for Natick, Massachusetts in 1967. Natick
High School turned out to be one of the best locations ever, and the
Festival stayed there for four years, more than recouping its losses.
Natick High School
at Natick Labs (now the U.S. Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center (NRDEC)) was opened with free shuttle bus service. (This location was closed to parking in 2002 due to security constraints imposed after the 9/11 attacks.)
Ted Sannella
In 1996, the art exhibition in the Exhibits Room was discontinued. In its
place was the Activity Room: a hands-on room for kids mostly, but also adults.
A new room for folk music and workshops opened up to us.
This room (confusingly called the South Room), is located
at what was previously a quiet corner of the school, just down the hall
from Performer Sales. Yet another room, the Loft (above the Natick Room),
became available for discussions and music.
The NEFFA presence on the World Wide Web went from
a single page to a multi-page affair, with on-line schedules, performer
information, and details about NEFFA's other offerings.
floor was in such good shape.
The Art Room was redesignated
as the full-time Rest Area, and was equipped with gym mats for impromptu naps.
Mary Gillette, the last of NEFFA's surviving founders, died
on May 20th, 1997. Her niece, Barbara Shelton, said "The Folk Festival was
never far from her mind and she loved
telling others of the trip we had there for the 50th Anniversary."
In 2000, NEFFA had its own Y2K issue: the "traditional" Festival dates had
conflicts with Easter and Passover, so the Festival was run at the beginning of
the school vacation, rather than the end. School was in session until 2pm
on Friday, and the Festival set-up crew needed to move in and set up...fast!
We did take a few short cuts to ease the setup (e.g., no Crafts Room on
Friday night), and the program was 1/2 hour shorter, but for the most part,
it felt like a regular Festival.
A turning point for NEFFA: A new site! Persis Thorndike was hired by NEFFA
to conduct a site search. Of the sites turned up on the short list, the one
that had the most promise was Mansfield High and Middle Schools. Countless
hours were spent by committee members on site visits and planning meetings to
make the transition as smooth as possible. Of course it wasn't without its
rough spots. The Mansfield staff made us feel more welcome than we have felt in a long time, and for many, the essence of the Festival survived
the move. We are looking forward to the challenges and triumphs of the future!