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Folk fest fine at 50
Posted By SARA ROSS, THE PACKET AND TIMES
Updated 9 hours ago
Sitting under a tree, licking an ice cream cone 83-year-old Ruth Jones-McVeigh doesn't stand out among the throngs of eccentrically dressed individuals swaying to folk music.
But, without her, the Mariposa Folk Festival wouldn't be celebrating its 50th birthday.
It was Jones-McVeigh who in 1961, as a 33-year-old mother of four, came up with the idea of a folk festival in Orillia.
"Seeing Sylvia Tyson was a real shakeup for me," Jones-McVeigh said Saturday.
Tyson, then Sylvia Fricker, headlined the first festival as a duo with future husband Ian Tyson. She was back to entertain audiences in workshops on Saturday and on the main stage to help close the event Sunday night.
"She brought tears to my eyes. That took me right back to the beginning."
Pam Carter, festival organizing group chair, was excited to have both Ian and Sylvia Tyson back to perform for the 50th.
"I think it's amazing and it speaks to the longevity of the genre of folk that 50 years later they're at Mariposa again and they're still committed and passionate about Mariposa Folk Festival," she said. "That this calibre of artists would come back to help us celebrate is awesome."
The first festival attracted an audience of 6,000 to 8,000 people, but despite the success Jones-McVeigh never imagined it would grow to an audience of 25,000 50 years later.
"I honestly wasn't too surprised that the first one was a success, but to ask me if I could visualize myself being there 50 years from now with an audience 10 times as big, no I could not have imagined that," she said. "I'm overjoyed and I think it's wonderful."
Jones-McVeigh now lives in Ottawa, but said she attends the festival as often as she can.
"I love the people, I love the music, I love hearing new people and touching base with former performers that have been here for a long time," Jones-McVeigh said.
Mariposa has always had a strong focus on the music. Even the festival's winking sun logo was designed, then later redesigned, by two of Canada's best-known folk icons.
The original design was created by Ian Tyson and featured a sun with rays waving in a clockwise direction.
A 20-year-old Murray McLauchlan's updated logo, named 'Lion Face Sun,' debuted in 1968 when the festival was at the Toronto Islands. When it first appeared, the logo was half of a sun with a face. It had thick rays waving in a counter-clockwise direction.
Two years later the logo was a complete sun blinking its left eye. This logo is still used today.
"It was a variation on the original idea, the sunny face, because, essentially, it would make people feel good," McLauchlan said before participating in a workshop Saturday afternoon.
The singer/songwriter has performed in the festival several times, beginning in the late '60s.
"The people who perform and sing have certainly changed and music evolves, but the idea and the spirit of the event, I think hasn't really fundamentally changed," McLauchlan said.
"I think that's one of the reasons it is successful. People come expecting that."
People who came expecting recognition of the 50th milestone Sunday night were not disappointed.
The festival's 50th birthday was officially recognized on stage Sunday evening between performances by Murray McLauchlan and Sylvia Tyson.
Mariposa Foundation president Chris Lusty carried a huge birthday card on stage signed by performers and many audience members. Local dignitaries were given an opportunity to wish the festival a happy birthday and festival volunteers and foundation members were thanked.
Following that, Ian Tyson took the stage and was later accompanied by his ex wife, Sylvia Tyson in an emotional moment for many.
According to the online Canadian Encyclopedia, Ian and Sylvia Tyson's working and personal lives began to diverge in the 1970s.
They have appeared together just three times since 1975: in 1979, 1982 and in 1986 at a concert, later televised, that received a 1987 Gemini. And Sunday night.
There were some surprise guests as well. Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor took an unexpected turn on stage before Orillia's own Gordon Lightfoot then closed the festival -- a highlight for many local festival goers.
While the ending was magical, the start was not. Thursday night's rain created some unexpected twists. The heavy rainfall dampened the entire park and left muddy puddles along pathways and in some grassy spots.
"We had somebody bringing hay in, we had other people bringing wood chips in to try and cover the wet areas," Carter said. "I think that speaks to community collaboration and partnership.
"Everyone we have reached out to has sprung into action and helped us out with the site situation."
The main stage became a "mud pit" Friday night with dancers jumping and splashing in the mud puddles, but they didn't seem to mind at all, Carter said.
"This is part of the magic of the festival," she said. "People are happy and making the best. They're having a great time."
sross@orilliapacket.com