See the Woodstock Folk Festival 2021 — with Bonus Videos!

Posted on July 26, 2021 by Paul Klonowski

See the Woodstock Folk Festival 2021 HERE or click on the picture below. Share with your friends and family. Have a watch party!

Donations are welcome any time. Just use the Donate Button on the right, or send a check to Woodstock Folk Festival, P.O. Box 1628, Woodstock, IL 60098. Your support is essential for us to bring you next year’s Festival.

See the Woodstock Folk Festival 2021 HERE by clicking on the picture.
See the Woodstock Folk Festival 2021 HERE by clicking on the picture.

What a great event — this year’s Virtual Annual Woodstock Folk Festival

This year’s Virtual Woodstock Folk Festival was extraordinary. Performers (links are to their Woodstock Wednesdays performances on this site) included:

This year, the Festival presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Megan McDonough. Its “Woody Award” went to Ray Beth, Lilli Kuzma and Chuck VanderVennet.

Something new in the Woodstock Folk Festival 2021

This year’s Woodstock Folk Festival featured some new segments that were entertaining, thought-provoking and informative. The Walking Tour of Woodstock was accompanied by a historical narrative that showcased the charming Woodstock Square as well as Woodstock’s deep musical roots. A Performers’ Question & Answer brought out thoughtful, sometimes humorous, sometimes moving or revealing responses from the performers.

So if you missed the Festival this year, no problem! Visit our Video Gallery on the site at any time or CLICK HERE. 

Here are your BONUS three videos

You’ll find in the Gallery three additional videos, excerpts from the Festival. They are integral to the Festival, but you can also enjoy them as stand-alone performances. We hope you’ll enjoy this popular new tradition.

  1. All-Sing Intro: “Raise Your Voice” by Meghan Cary
  2. All-Sing Finale: Somos el Barco by Lorre Wyatt
  3. Performers’ Q & A (raw videos – great stuff!)

A post-Festival message from Carol Obertubbesing, Woodstock Folk Festival President

The Woodstock Folk Festival 2021 thanks all who participated in, watched, and supported this wonderful annual event. We greatly appreciate your interest and continued support.

If you haven’t yet enjoyed this year’s memorable event, we hope you will see it now and support next year’s Festival.

Thank you to our wonderful performers, mentioned above.

And thank you to our amazing editor Rich Prezioso. 

Thanks to Meghan Cary for coordinating our All-Sing opening song “Raise Your Voice” and Joe Jencks for coordinating “Somos El Barco.”  

Meghan Cary wrote the rousing opening song and Lorre Wyatt wrote the beautiful closing song.  We thank them for allowing us to use those songs. 

We appreciated the performers’ answers – sometimes humorous, sometimes moving, sometimes profound – to the questions we posed to them.  You heard some of the responses during the Festival, but we couldn’t include all of their remarks, so those too are now a stand-alone in the Video Gallery. 

Thanks to everyone who participated in our Post-Festival Zoom conversation, including our Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Megon McDonough, who sang her most recent song and a couple others, and to David Roth, who also sang us one of his songs. 

We’re glad Christine Lavin joined us to celebrate her friend and collaborator Megon. These surprises capped off an afternoon of musical delights.  

Congratulations to Megon on her Lifetime Achievement Award and to Ray Beth, Lilli Kuzma, and Chuck VanderVennet on their “Woody” Awards.  If you have suggestions for next year’s awards, please email info@woodstockfolkfestival.org.  A complete list of past recipients is on the website.  

Thanks to current and former Board members and to our volunteers Sonia Calles Mesa, Leslie Cook, Paul Klonowski, Steve Mikus, Annemarie Serra, Joel Simpson, and Kathy Wentz.  Thanks also to the City of Woodstock, the Woodstock Opera House, and Real Woodstock.  

Other ways to support the Festival and our musicians

Festival masks ($15 each) are available for purchase at WarpCorps and Read Between the Lynes, both located on Woodstock Square; contact us at info@woodstockfolkfestival.org if you want us to ship one to you ($15 + shipping and handling).  Proceeds bring you next year’s Festival.

Be sure to mark your calendar now for next year’s 37th Annual Woodstock Folk Festival on Sunday, July 17, 2022.  Check out this website periodically and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

Remember to support performers by purchasing tickets to their live and virtual concerts, donating to them via their websites, buying their CDs, and joining their Patreon platforms.

Katherine Rondeau couldn’t participate in this year’s Festival for health reasons. She is featured in one of our Woodstock Wednesdays, though. She is scheduled to perform at St. Tim’s Coffeehouse (Skokie) virtual concert on October 9.  We will try to update you on other performers as we hear of their activities.

Keep the music coming

In the meantime, be sure to check out the folk music programs offered by our Radio Partners WDCB, WFMT, and WNUR and 24/7 online music services Acoustic Outpost and Folk Music Notebook.  

Watch virtual and/or live concerts from our fellow folk music organizations Acoustic Renaissance (acousticren.com), Fox Valley Folk Festival (FVFS.org), Lake County Folk Club (thelakecountyfolkclub.org), Off Square Music (offsquaremusic.org), St. Tim’s Coffeehouse (sttimothyskokie.org), and Two Way Street Coffee House (twowaystreet.org).  

Most of all, remember that music is a source of joy, healing, and community; keep the power of song in your heart and take it with you wherever you go.

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