Johnstown PA’s Flood City Music Festival 2009

Changes Come to the Johnstown FolkFest

Yeah, time to get back to posting again. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do and, although it’s a lot of fun to annoy Theresa by not doing anything, it’s probably past time to fulfill her fantasies, so here are the shots from the 2009 Flood City Music Festival.

Kudos to JAHA and Ameriserv for taking a huge risk by turning the Johnstown FolkFest inside out. The bigggest change is probably in the timing of the event. JAHA has moved the Fest from Labor Day weekend to the middle of August. This means that Johnstown PA now enjoys 3 weekends of big summer events rather than just 2, and that can only be a good thing for the city and surrounding area. The organizers are now actively soliciting “contributions” for admission to the event. While this may rub some the wrong way, I was more than happy to throw for the $20 weekend pass in anticipation of bigger name future acts and for access to the Train Station area. The Fest is also presenting fewer acts than in the past, encouraging the hiring of bigger names and minimizing the “Okay, which one should we listen to now” dilemma. Oh yeah, almost forgot. They got rid of the scrip! Woo-hoo!

All that said, I’ve got a few suggestions regarding the event that I hope JAHA and Ameriserv will take in the spirit in which they are intended:

More Blues! What this town really needs is a good blues club and/or an annual blues festival. In the meantime, FCMF could help a brother out by adding a few more blues acts to the lineup.
Jams in the Train Station – I sat in the Station for a bit, drinking my beer amid the ferns and other decorations, wishing there was something to listen to; maybe some local accoustic acts or, here’s an idea: how about some blues?
Scheduling – As always, the ’09 Fest generally had a good variety of musical acts from which to choose, but all the early Sunday afternoon acts were just a bit more laid-back than I might have hoped for. I’d like to see the organizers put just a little more effort into scheduling divergent acts playing at the same time.
Did I mention “more blues?”
Bring back the scrip!! – Just kidding

Anyway, we had us a real good time at the ’09 Fest and look forward to bigger and better events to come. Good job JAHA.

Enjoy the pics.