Becky McEachern

Well, the Vancouver Folk Festival is over again for another year, but today I’m seeing sunburnt keeners wandering around our city with their wristbands still on. The relaxing groove of this weekend was the kind that makes Monday morning’s responsibilities seem a lot less important. This is how many people were waiting with their blankets outside the gates at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday. It was pretty funny to watch them hustle over to the main stage to stake out their territory as quickly as possible at 9:00 a.m. when they were finally let in.

The result looked like a giant quilt across the lawn of Jericho Beach Park.

Within ten hours of having heard Kate Reid for the first time at this year’s Folk Fest, I had listened to all the music clips on her website. I’m also really excited about having captured on my iPhone her excellent, hilarious and wonderful “I’d Go Straight for Ridley Bent.”

I had to check her out. For one thing, I had read articles about her in the

In other news, I had an enlightening visit with a security guard named Justin who let me in on a few of the tricks of the trade. He says that as long as you stand close to the fence you can hear anyone moving it or trying to climb in from pretty far away. Who rips off a festival as peaceful as this one, though, really? C’mon. The couple in this photo aren’t trying to break in, of course, but I think they were a little puzzled about the whole park being abducted and fenced off. The area devoted to the festival is huge.

I love how the Folk Fest brings out families with tiny kids, hard-core fans, grandmas and grandpas and everyone in between.

This year’s great weather, fantastic tunes and fun crowd are pretty convincing. I’ll be back again next year for sure.