Rocky Mtn Folks Festival Concert 09Aug24-10Aug24

Weather for the weekend looked pretty sketchy for Kala's and my outing to Planet Bluegrass in Lyons to attend the Rocky Mtn Folks Festival. Undaunted we headed up Fri to stay and dine with our great friends the Wilkes in Boulder. That night we ate at a nice new NoBo (pretentious?) Mex restaurant, Santo. It was owned by a Top Chef and James Beard winner! Tasty tacos and fun talk among the elders. Soon enough the next day we'd be @ the show enjoying good folk and country tunes.

After some games at the Boulder estate I had to attend to the weird "tarp line" duties in Lyons to get Kala & myself an entry number to the show. A thousand folks were in a midnight queue to receive a random number that'd guide when we could get into the festival the next day and lay out our 10'x10' tarp to stake our place. It was the oddest scheme and painful for we who were not camping nearby but I did hear the Wood Bros from afar. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy in the line and I drew the last number given.

For the fest', we assembled a massive kit of gear for rain, cold, and sun with tarp, chairs, table, sodas, and the like... I carried it all in my original bulletproof, heavy, internal frame Moutainsmith backpack from parking to the venue ~ a 15 min walk over the N St Vrain and along it on dirt paths (I knew the grounds a bit from the night prior). That was fine and we took our "randomly" assigned spot after trading tickets for bracelets. Kala couldn't come in with me (more of the weirdness) as she didn't have a number from the midnight prior. NP really, I'd get the spot and she'd join from the "no numbers" queue. Kala then did the strong work of negotiating with locals who seemingly held more, and lower, numbers than most did, certainly than I did, with the final number. She got me #225 and I moved up significantly among the lining throng. Gates opened @ 10am and we moved up to the main gate funneling to single file ~ me trodding along with the huge pack... no one else up with me had anything but their tarp... hmmm. What I now know that, the experienced already knew, was that after we exited the gate arch it was open season to run to an open spot. Most were 20-somethings in track gear and I was running fully clothed with an 80# pack... oh to have local knowledge. No fair but pretty funny. We were low enough in the queue to still get a good spot, just not a great spot. I staked it with our tarp and Kala soon joined and we "set up;" that's ours with Kala waving on the right. The Planet Bluegrass venue is fabulous and after we unpacked our site we checked out the stage, the river, the hammocks on the river, sound guys, the vendor booths, and the grounds. The weather was awesome ~ for the time being.

While I really scored tix for us in order to see Margo Cilker (silker) and Bonny Light Horseman here, we did enjoy some others before these "bigger name artists" came to stage. First up was the RMFF 2023 Songwriter Award winner Cindy Kalmenson ~ though 60, she was good with decent stage presence and some clever doused relationship lyrics/songs.

Second in the AM was Peter Mulvey... Kala didn't like him but he had some funny protest stuff like "let's move the planet before Bezos returns; assholes in space."

We got some shrimp dumplings and the show continued with Making Movies, a Latin sounds band with a leader and horn from Panama, now KC, MO. That's an original Mejoranera from Panama stringed instrument - not a great sound IMO. MM touted inclusivity and played Latin dance beats, and encouraged the still dry crowd.

It started to rain ~3pm so we donned our rain jackets and covered our packs & chairs and headed to the Wildflower Pavilion to hear this year's songwriting finalists. They were all excellent; I preferred the lady on the far left in the pic most ~ she wrote primarily of ecology and had a sweet voice.

We are sporting new festival chairs, which can't be more than 5" off the ground in many of the spots we go ~ at least when we sit pretty far forward, which we do. Our "normal" chairs are good for sitting but tough to carry and I invariably whack someone. The new chairs tote more easily but do not have arms or drink holders; I got some holders that mate with the chairs well.

Back on the festival field it was time to hear Margo Cilker! She was good... funny, heartfelt lyrics of personal experiences in a cool alt country delivery. Her lead guitarist Jeremy was excellent as accompaniment to her lead vocals and rhythm.

I hauled the small rig (build described HERE) to the RMFF and grabbed Margo singing 'With The Middle.' I had to de-rez the video significantly for Blogger, but it's the decent audio track that's gold.

The doppler and radar showed on & off, but continuing, rain, and I knew from the eve before that it got cold at 9:30pm in the wet. So, despite my wanting to see Eric & Anais, last in the lineup, I chose to bolt. Kala and I wrapped things up and several folks swooped into our spot. We were in (needed) full rainsuits at that point and I donned the 80# pack again for the walk back to the car.

We arrived in time for delicious dinner from Leslie and were even able to observe a bobcat in their back yard. We texted the neighbors, "don't let the toy poodle out right now."

It was a great weekend with our friends, "experiencing" RMFF & learning some tricks for when/if we come again, and hearing Cilker. Thanks Kala for coming up with me!