NORFOLK — O’Connor Brewing will host the second annual NorFolk Festival Saturday. The free day-long event is a celebration of folk music and culture featuring 27 mostly regional acts with proceeds benefiting the Children’s Hospital for the King’s Daughters.
Performers include Mountantide, the Framers, Acredale and Brackish Water Jamboree, whose members founded the festival, with the Hackensaw Boys headlining.
Organizers are hoping to double the attendance of last year’s inaugural event, which saw about 2,000 people. If inquiries from artists hoping to play the event are any indication, they probably won’t have a problem hitting that number.
“We had so many people reaching out to us, we actually, unfortunately, had to turn away a lot of people,” organizer Paul Bidanset said.
Even after doubling the number of stages from the first year, Bidanset said they only had to reach out to one band to ask if they were interested — the headliners. In the future, he hopes to see it grow even more to a multi-day event that attracts artists from even further away.
“From what I’ve experienced, I think the communal aspect is the biggest thing about this music,” he said. “It’s very accessible, and it’s very humble music that I think people can appreciate at a time [when] sometimes a little stuffy or a little insincere music seems to really get most of the airplay.”
“It’s a good time. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry. It’ll make you dance. Everything’s there,” he added.
To keep the momentum going after last year, the organizers held admission-by-donation concerts in which local artists joined together to play songs from different themes such as banjo picking, acoustic blues and the music of Bob Dylan.
It may come as a surprise to some, as folk music is typically associated with the mountains and especially rural areas, but Coastal Virginia does have its own unique place within the genre.
“There was actually quite a bit of roots music and blues music in Eastern Virginia,” Bidanset said. “It was apparent in some of the early, early jug band and blues songs. They were singing about going up to Newport News. Norfolk made its appearance in a couple of lyrics back then.”
Although this part of the culture isn’t necessarily the primary focus of the festival, it will have a presence there.
“You’ve also got a lot of the sea shanty and the watermen music that was directly influenced from the English and the Irish settlers that you’re going to see in Bob Zentz and Jeanne McDougall Zentz’s set as well as the Shantygrass,” he added.
Bidanset was not quick to pick favorites, though he did say he was looking forward to the Hackensaw Boy’s performance.
“They just bring so much energy and passion to this kind of music,” he said. “Acredale is another act out of Chesapeake, and they’ve got more of the emotional side. They’ve got some beautiful harmonies, fiddles, melodies, and pedal steel.”
He also said he was excited about Richmond’s South Hill Bank, who performed at Floydfest last weekend and local musician Gordon Bradley.
“He’s got a bunch of local heavy hitters in the roots scene that are backing him up, and he’s a bartender over at O’Connor. I’m really excited to see all of these guys.”
Stormy weather is, as of this writing, expected this weekend which could affect turnout. The hootenanny itself will happen rain or shine, however.
“Even if the skies open up, we’ve got over 25,000 square feet in O’Connor and the top sound companies in the area so we’ll be able to stagger musicians and stages and everyone’s still going to have a good time,” Bidanset said.
For more information, check out the festival’s website.
