DTHS Event - Carpenter Nature Center Hosts RiverFolk Festival

August 1, 2004 Event

NEWS FROM DENMARK TOWNSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY

From: Mavis A. Voigt

612.823.4934

E-mail: rmvoigt@usfamily.net

Released: June 2, 2004

Carpenter Nature Center Hosts RiverFolk Festival August 1

Members of the Denmark Township Historical Society will hold their third annual RiverFolk Festival at Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center on Sunday, August 1 from 1 to 4 p.m. Carpenter Nature Center, located at 12805 St. Croix Trail South in South Washington County, is co-sponsoring the festival and providing a big tent for activities as a community service. The public is invited and there is no admission charge.

The celebration of life along the river will include traditional music, crafts and food, including a heritage bake sale and an ice cream social. Headlining the entertainment are Bill Hinckley and Judy Larson, a professional husband-wife team who will perform from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. They have been preserving and interpreting folk and traditional songs for more than 30 years, using guitar, mandolin and fiddle, and have been regular performers on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion show on public radio.

Visitors will also enjoy the Czech and German music of Jim Busta and his concertina from Spring Grove. Busta will stroll the grounds and entertain guests as they bid on a silent auction, watch demonstrations of traditional crafts, buy tickets for a raffle of a hand-knit afghan, check out book exhibits by the Afton Historical Society Press and the Washington County Historical Society, and learn about the river from exhibits by the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and the St. Croix River Association.

Members of the Denmark Township Historical Society organize the RiverFolk Festival as part of their mission to preserve the stories, music and traditions of the past so that people of the township will gain a better understanding of the place in which they live. To support Society projects and programs, they are selling raffle tickets for $1 each for an afghan created and donated by member JoAnne Olson, award-winning quilter and knitter. The winning ticket will be drawn at 3:30 p.m. at the RiverFolk Festival. More information is available from event co-chair Jean Boyd at 651.436.8031 or Society president Walter Pechacek at 651.437.8383.