The tenth annual Florence Winter Folk Festival is underway. It started yesterday at the Events Center with Saturday-night-headliner Tom Chapin and Friends. They performed two interactive concerts with more than 800 primary and elementary school students.
The concerts are a very big thing for the students says fourth grade teacher Dennis King. They begin listening and learning the music weeks in advance; students get involved in creating the backdrop that will be on stage through the weekend… and, he says, for many this is an exposure to something they normally wouldn’t get to see.
Dennis King – “So many of them, this is it. This is perhaps the only time this year that they’ll get into the Events Center and see something like this. It’s… Tom Chapin… and the others that they’ve come to see are very professional so it’s… very impactful.”
Several of the artists will be appearing at different venues around town today, then the doors open tomorrow morning at ten AM at the Events Center.
There’ll be music on stage and the artisan craft fair in the exhibition area and of course the pie baking contest. Grammy, Emmy, and Peabody award winner Tom Chapin will perform with friends tomorrow night. More music is in store for Sunday and will wrap up with We Five at 3:30. Ticket pricing and more information is available at the FEC.
Local Observance of MLK Holiday
Tomorrow will mark the tenth local observance of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in Florence. Events begin at noon at Siuslaw Public Library where organizers will put together a short march to commemorate the occasion. Immediately following… estimated to be around one pm… Ted Taylor, the editor of Eugene Weekly, an alternative newspaper, will talk about “Media Bias”. The observation is slated to run through three pm at the Bromley Room.
South Coast Crabbers can pull pots
Crabbers along the southernmost portion of the Oregon Coast will be able to pursue Dungeness Crab beginning Sunday. Traditionally commercial and sport crabbing in the ocean are allowed beginning December First. Because of concerns about under-weight crabs, the opening was delayed everywhere for two weeks. The season from Gold Beach north has been open since Mid December. Crabbers from the Rogue River, south to the California border will be able to begin pulling their pots on the 15th of January.
Nick Lutz Invitational Wrestling
It’s a full day of wrestling tomorrow at Siuslaw High School as both gym floors will be covered with mats for the annual Nick Lutz Wrestling Invitational. It’s a meet that Siuslaw wrestling coach Neil Wartnik always looks forward to.
Neil Wartnik – “Right now it looks like 21 teams, including us coming, and, it’s just going to be a great day of wrestling.”
Matches begin at nine am, with the finals expected to begin around five.
