BUTTE — The Montana Folk Festival is currently taking place in Butte, bringing together a diverse range of music and people from various locations for three days of free arts and entertainment.
“Magnificent talent, top-line acts, and just the variety of the—I mean, everything from violinists to dancers to the Cajun bands, Quebecois,” said Clarence Beede of Proctor, MT.
Many attendees travel from out of state to attend the festival year after year, emphasizing that it is worth the journey.
“The fact that they can keep it free, donations, with the variety of music. I don’t think you’d find it anywhere else, I really don’t,” said Idaho resident Donna Wahoff-Stice.
Many festival-goers take advantage of the complimentary camping at McGruff Park, setting up tents or parking their RVs to stay overnight. Regular visitors describe the atmosphere as a small community.
“I’ve never seen any problems with anybody arguing or fighting or anything. Some people tend to party a little later in the evening than others, but never heard a cross word spoken, really,” said Beede.
For some, staying in a tent isn’t considered roughing it.
“We’re wilderness backpackers, so we got port-a-potties, we got coffee shops, so it’s not a big deal for us,” said Boise resident Paula Pintar.
The Marine Corps League located next to the park serves and sells breakfast to the campers during the festival as part of their fundraising activities.
“We’ve met so many different people, people from different countries come in, you know, they camp out, they come over, have breakfast with us; it’s nice to talk to the people,” said Robert Chansler of the Marine Corps League.
The festival will continue on Saturday and Sunday with six different stages throughout Uptown. To view a schedule of performances, visit the Folk Festival’s schedule web page.
