Good Food, Great Company, A Little Hard Work

This is the perfect recipe for a folk festival in my mind and Shelter Valley does it like no other that I know of.

Showing up to work is like a family reunion with lots of great banter and playful conversation with friends from previous years as well as lots of stimulating conversations with new folks. And at some point everyone asks each other "so, how many years for you?".

Andrea and I have come to this festival for the past four years (this is the eleventh edition) and I've volunteered three times including this week. I feel like I know a little about what needs doing by now so I've gotten a few crews lined up to work and I think it's gone well. I know I make them work more than they want to but I know what all still needs to be done and I want to make sure we get to the end by Friday.

So my mornings are early (generally up with the sun) and after some tasty breakfast that starts with fresh farm eggs and becomes an omelette, I get the folks organized and away we go.

Sunrise over the remains of last night's campfire

At the other end of the day another fine meal awaits (and yes, there is a wonderful lunch in between). I think at this point there are around 50 volunteers to feed. The total will be closer to 300 during the event so it's no small task. And SVFF pulls it off beautifully. Here's tonights treat...