The city of Salisbury has ended the Maryland Folk Festival citing costs. In this excerpt from this week's Delmarva Today Delmarva Public Media's Don Rush talks with Mike Dunn, President and CEO of the Greater Salisbury Committee, about the importance of the festival and its legacy, The full interview can be heard on this Friday's Delmarva Today at noon on WSDL and WESM.
RUSH: The city of Salisbury has decided to end the Maryland Folk Festival citing financial concerns. This is Don Rush. It began as the National Folk Festival back in 2018 and has drawn thousands along with a major economic impact on local businesses. To get some perspective on this endeavor, we sat down with Mike Dunn, president and CEO of the Greater Salisbury Committee.
DUNN: I wouldn't say that I was surprised. There had been hints that the Maryland Folk Festival might not be able to move forward or might not move forward. So while I did not know the exact time and the date that it was released, I was surprised as anyone else, but it did not come as a surprise. I think it came, however, as a disappointment, I think there has been a collective sense of disappointment in the community that the Folk Festival has to go away.
RUSH: What do you make of the rationale that the city simply can't afford it?
DUNN: Don, let me say that going back to the first year of the National Folk Festival, in my role with the Greater Salisbury Committee, I had the privilege of being on the first fundraising committee. We had to raise about $700,000 in those first couple of years. That's not an insignificant amount in a community our size. And thanks to the enthusiastic support of the Henson Foundation and the Purdue Foundation, and Pohanka and Avery Hall, and thanks to really sizable grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maryland State Arts Council, et cetera, et cetera. Then a whole bunch of $5,000 and $10,000, and $25,000 contributions. We did a nice job, of course, the city of Salisbury. So even at the beginning, the methodology by which a community our size, it was a daunting challenge. And so the sustainability of going back to those fabulous local philanthropic folk, you kind of can't go back into that well each and every year.
RUSH: What do you think that certainly the National Folk Festival, even the Maryland Folk Festival, meant to this community?
DUNN: Well, Don, I can remember, as I know you can, and Delmarva Public Media, you guys were a big part of it. I can remember that very first night, opening night, if you will. You might remember the first weekend of the National Folk Festival. I don't know if we've ever had more rain than that three day stretch. But on that Friday, everything started on Friday night. Governor Hogan was here, the Greater Salisbury Committee, our conference room, we were probably in fire code violation because the opening party was supposed to be outdoors. But at the very last minute, it was brought inside and they called us at like four in the afternoon. The mood in that room, it was electric. And I can remember myself thinking, I wonder if people are going to actually show up for this thing. And we walked outside and there's the governor and the mayor. And whenever a couple hundred people, we turned the corner on Main Street to the main stage, and oh my gosh, there were a thousand people there. And it was, again, I keep using the word electric.
RUSH: Mike Dunn, president and CEO of the Greater Salisbury Committee on the end of the Maryland Folk Festival. The full interview can be heard on this Friday's Delmarva Today at noon on WSDL and WESM, this is Don Rush for Delmarva Public Media.
