Springville Worldwide Folkfest 2010

We just ended another wonderful and exhausting week of hosting for the Folkfest. It was an awesome experience. This year Alisha, Amanda and I wanted to all host from the same country and it worked out so beautifully. Alisha was the country chair for Spain which meant she was in charge of finding host families and was in charge of making sure all the other host families for Spain knew the schedule which was constantly changing. The country chairs host the director of the group and then assigns the performers to those hosting. I am amazed at how Heavenly Father plays a role in all of this, because as for my daughters and myself, we couldn't have been better matched.
For a more detailed account of what we did each day, check out Alisha's blog here.

All the host families minus Val's family and the Spaniards.

Antonio, Me, Cesar, and Javier

Alisha's family with Miguel and Paco (the groups director)

Amanda's family with Jose and Jesus

The Spaniards in costume which they wore quite often even in this heat.


They play such beautiful music and they love to sing anywhere and everywhere. We had two Jesus' in the group so I dubbed one as Beach Boy Jesus. He loved singing American songs and really got into it, and his voice was incredible as was all of them. What amazing talent!

Every time people come into our lives we are changed forever, and this time was no exception. Was it hard....that depends, late nights and early mornings are hard on anyone, showing our beautiful state...not hard, building friendships...not hard, constantly on the go...challenging, saying goodbye to dear friends from around the world....EXTREMELY DIFFICULT!!! What a wonderful opportunity to share this incredible experience with my children and grandchildren.

Day one-Monday July 26th...
We picked up our performers at the Springville Art Museum at 12:30pm. I was privileged to have Antonio,Javier
and Cesar
I took them home, gave them a snack and thought they might rest from their early morning flight from New York, but instead, being Antonio and Javier were the dancers they spent the afternoon practicing. (this group has been together for over 20 years. They live all across Spain and 1 in France, so they only meet together this one time a year when they travel to Festivals and play together. This is the only time the dancers have to practice). We had to have them back to the Springville Art Museum by 6:00 pm as they were performing for the Mayors Reception. Only Folkfest committee members and country chairs(and spouses) and some other invited guests were invited to attend. Randy didn't want to go with Alisha, so she invited me. After the Mayors Reception was the street dance in the parking lot where all the countries come and teach a simple dance to the host families and anyone in the community who want to come and participate. The Spaniards did not have to go to this since they performed, so they wanted to go to a local Restaurant and eat something. The closest one we knew of was the new Magleby's on 200 South and Main in Springville. Alisha, Randy, Clay, Tyler and myself ate with them and start to get to know them. We were in bed that night by midnight.

Tuesday-July 27th
Up at 6:30 am to exercise, then get them up, feed them an American breakfast of oatmeal, toast and deviled eggs(which they hardly touched), and coffee(I didn't know until just before they came that you can buy coffee in singles packets that they dip in hot water). They had to be at the Springville Art Park at 8:30 am, I think we got there at 8:50. I was always pushing them to hurry along all week. After dropping them off I had to come back home to work. We picked them up at noon and drove up to Kelly's Grove in Hobble Creek canyon for a picnic that was put on for everyone that was in anyway connected to the folkfest. The Spaniards took their instruments with them everywhere they went and always played.
After the picnic they stayed and practiced again as a group until about 3:00pm, then we came back home, they showered, rested for a bit, while I made spaghetti and lettuce salad. I picked up Amanda's 2 and with my 3 we had a car full, headed back to the Art's Park for their 6:00pm rehearsal. Tonight was the opening of the Folkfest, so Alisha,Randy and I put up chairs and blankets to save space for all the family coming later. Tonights performances were awesome. The groups this year came from Spain, Nepal, Inner Mongolia, Korea, France, Czech Republic, Paraguay, along with 3 local groups - Rocky Mountain Express(cloggers, Morning Star(Native American dancers), and Voice of Polynesia(Polynesia dancers).
We got home about midnight, fed them a snack...they all wanted toast (they love wheat bread), Cesar always wanted coffee, Antonio always had water, and Javier had milk or water.