Folk club celebrating 45th season
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on September 11, 2024.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com Since it was incorporated on Nov. 14, 1979 as a non-profit society, the Lethbridge Folk Club has given artists and audiences musical memories to last a lifetime.And now the club is celebrating its 45th season which kicks off Sept. 14 featuring a concert by the John Wort Hannam Trio and opening act Sidenote at the Cave on the campus of Lethbridge Polytechnic.
That concert, which starts at 7:30 p.m., will be the last for the club at that venue.
Starting with an Oct. 5 show by The Eisenhauers, the club is returning to the city’s downtown in a new venue – Dieppe Hall inside the Army, Navy and AirfForce Veterans Club at 517 5 Ave. S., not that far from its longtime home which was known affectionately as the Wolf’s Den.
And on Nov. 23 the club will host its 45th anniversary and concert at the ANAF. Details are still being finalized but members and folk music fans can expect something special that night.
Folk club treasurer Phil Rosenzweig said in a recent interview the club is re-inventing itself this year and trying to make itself more sustainable as a non-profit as it makes a concerted effort to keep operating and putting on great concerts.
It also wants to bring back an annual folk festival by 2029.
“If we don’t turn it around, we’re done,” said Rosenzweig.
Since its inception, the club has entertained audiences in different locations including the German-Canadian Club and Moose Hall.
It runs regular concerts and open stages, playing host to artists who perform a range of genres including not just folk, but blues, roots, bluegrass and Canadian.
Among the many noteworthy artists to grace club stages over the decades are Sylvia Tyson, John Allan Cameron, Gary Fjeldgaard, Valdy, Connie Kaldor, Spirit of the West, Lennie Gallant, Oscar Lopez, Annie Gallup, the Rankin Family and of course, Stan Rogers.
The roots of the club were sown early in 1979 by Diamond City neighbours Jim Mountain – who worked with Heritage Canada and now lives in Ottawa – Doug Snelling, a teacher at Gilbert Paterson Middle School, and Maureen Chambers who was at the University of Lethbridge at the time.
The three connected with Diamond City carpenter Ross Beamer and Bill McGrath, a storyteller and fiddler who taught Gaelic at Catholic Central High School.
Mountain was a pennywhistle player who wanted to improve his skills and thought McGrath could help him.
Snelling had played with acoustic groups in Ontario and wanted to perform here, said a story by The Herald on the club’s 25th anniversary.
Ian Burnett, a local bus mechanic, would play button accordion and fiddle with McGrath, the story goes.
Barry Hegland provided assistance through his skills with light and sound and connections he had through his job at Anglo Stereo and Photo, which was a downtown mainstay for many years. Herb Hicks also became involved.
The first gig of the unofficial club was for the Franco Albertan Society.
The folk club’s first official show was in December 1979 at the Westminster Hall and featured local musicians and a then-unknown Kaldor. Chambers was the opening act.
After a sold-out second show at the Bowman Arts Centre, the club moved to the German Canadian Club.
Rosenzweig, who has enormous experience in the non-profit sector, said the celebration on Nov. 23 “is going to be great” and the club is hoping to sell out the event which he said will be more like a gala than just a concert. Possibly as many as three local acts will be performing.
The ANAF venue, which Rosenzweig said will become the club’s semi-permanent home, has seating for about 200 audience members.
“After more than a dozen years, we’re coming back downtown,” he said.
The club still does open stages at McKillop United Church during the fall and spring seasons which are popular with audiences.
The club is looking to build a long-term relationship with the ANAF and is hoping to make its location a permanent home, he said.
The club thinks the venue will be great, in part because there is plenty of parking – which is free on Saturdays downtown and after 4 p.m. on week days.
“It’s going to be really good,” he said.
The club is hoping to get a grant to do a book on its history and a film, as well.
New for this year is the start of a relationship with the National Music Centre in Calgary, which offers a music therapy program that the folk club will be joining.
The centre runs music therapy sessions across Alberta for children and seniors in hospitals and other venues including senior homes, said Rosenzweig who has invited the person who runs the program to speak to the celebration about the program.
Ten per cent of season ticket sales are being donated to the program and the club is asking others to support it as well so a program can be started in this city.
Rosenzweig says things haven’t been the same since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the live music industry in 2020 and people are now just starting to come back.
The club is one of the oldest folk clubs in Alberta, he said with only the Calgary Folk Festival being in existence longer.
Its goal is continue providing a venue for new and emerging local and regional artists.
“We want to re-invent ourselves and this is the year we’re going to do it. And we’re hoping for good support,” said Rosenzweig.
An annual folk club membership is $10 which entitles people to discounted prices on all events. 3
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