Mariposa Folk Festival is a Canadian

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

for a few decades, it returned to Orillia in 2000. Ruth Jones, her husband Dr. Crawford Jones, brother David Major and Pete McGarvey organized the first Mariposa Folk Festival in August 1961. The inaugural event, covered by the

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, featured all Canadian performers. The festival grew in popularity, size and rowdiness until the popularity of the 1963 festival (with over 8,000 advance tickets sold), and the lack of sufficient security, led to a backlash from town locals. The city of Orillia secured a court injunction to prevent the festival from continuing in the town limits. The first festival held in the

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area, in 1964, was at Maple Leaf Stadium. The subsequent three festivals were held at Innis Lake in Caledon, northwest of the city. In the 1970s it was held on the

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before shifting to

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and Bathurst Street and later

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. In 2000, the Mariposa Folk Festival was invited back to Orillia by city councilors Tim Lauer and Don Evans. The festival continues to be held in Orillia. As well as folk music, the festival highlights other aspects of folk culture including dance, crafts, storytelling.

Festival timeline

The Mariposa Folk Festival has been held in these Ontario locations with these artistic directors: * 1961 – 64, Oval Park, Orillia * 1964,

Maple Leaf Stadium Maple Leaf Stadium was a jewel box-style baseball stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at the foot of Bathurst Street on the south side of Lake Shore Boulevard (formerly Fleet Street). It was built in 1926 by Lol Solman for his Toronto M ...

, Toronto * 1965 – 67, Innis Lake, Caledon * 1968 – 79, Centre Island, Toronto * 1980 – 81, ''no festival'' * 1982,

Harbourfront Harbourfront may refer to: * Harbourfront (Toronto), a neighbourhood in Toronto ** 509 Harbourfront, Toronto streetcar route **Harbourfront Centre, cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto * HarbourFront (Singapore), waterfront site in Si ...

, Toronto *1983, small event at

Christie Pits Christie Pits (officially Willowvale Park until 1983) is a public recreational area in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 750 Bloor Street West at Christie Street, just west of the Toronto Transit Commission's Christie subway station. ...

park, Toronto * 1984 – 91,

* 1992 –

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, Toronto * 1993 – 1995, Olympic Island & Downtown, Toronto * 1996, Annie Williams Park, Bracebridge, and Victoria Park, Cobourg * 1997, Annie Williams Park, Bracebridge *1998 - Bracebridge * 1999, Parkdale, Toronto * 2000 – present, Tudhope Park, Orillia Artistic directors: * 1961 - 64, Ted Schaefer * 1964 – 77,

Estelle Klein Estelle Klein (1930-2004) was an advocate and supporter of folk music in Canada and held numerous influential positions with cultural and heritage organizations during her lengthy career. Life Klein was born in Buffalo, New York and moved to Toron ...

* 1978,

Ken Whiteley Kenneth Whiteley (born April 30, 1951) is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer. He began performing folk music in the early 1970s, making frequent appearances at the Mariposa Folk Festival and recording and touring with acclaimed childre ...

* 1979,

* 1982, Tim Harrison * 1984,

Michael Cooney Michael Cooney (born 1943, Carmel, California, United States) is an American folk and blues musician who performed in the 1960s folk revival. He is known for his blues performances as well as for performing at, and organizing, many folk festival ...

* 1985,

Ian Bell Ian Ronald Bell (born 11 April 1982) is an English former cricketer who played international cricket in all formats for the England cricket team and county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed higher/middle order batsm ...

* 1986, Rick Bauer * 1987 – 88, Drago Maleiner * 1989 - 92, Richard Flohil *1993 - 94, David Warren *1995, Jeff Cohen *1996, Artistic Committee: David Warren, Dianne Myers, Karen Carlson-Oriotis, Randi Fratkin *1997, Neil Hutchinson *2000 - 2006, Randi Fratkin * 2006 - 2017, Mike Hill * 2017 - Present, Liz Scott In addition, over the years there have been some alternative concerts and festivals, splinter groups, sub-festivals, and spin-offs, such as Mariposa-in-the-City in Toronto in 2000.

Early years

The idea for the Mariposa Folk Festival was created by Ruth McVeigh and her husband Dr. Casey Jones, after hearing a presentation by John Fisher. The name for the festival was borrowed from

Stephen Leacock Stephen P. H. Butler Leacock (30 December 1869 – 28 March 1944) was a Canadian teacher, political scientist, writer, and humorist. Between the years 1915 and 1925, he was the best-known English-speaking humorist in the world. He is known ...

's Book ''

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town ''Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town'' is a sequence of stories by Stephen Leacock, first published in 1912. It is generally considered to be one of the most enduring classics of Canadian humorous literature. The fictional setting for these sto ...

'', which was inspired by the town of Orillia. Mariposa Folk Festival was held for the first time in 1961. In 1964 the festival moved unexpectedly to Toronto. Backlash from Orillia and Medonte township community members prevented the festival from continuing in its original location. Due to these circumstances as well as inclement weather, many people who had bought tickets to the festival did not attend. In 1966 the festival's format changed, under the direction of Estelle Klein. It became more workshop-based and featured multiple stages so that different performances could occur simultaneously. 1968 was the first year that the festival started on a Friday night. It was advertised with a focus on workshops rather than on headlining acts. In 1969 CBC filmed throughout the weekend of the festival, and created a documentary entitled “Mariposa: A Folk Festival”, which aired on September 28, 1969.

1970s

In 1970 the "Native People area" at the festival was expanded, and was a success with festival visitors. This year also featured workshops investigating instrumental styles, music of specific regions and song exchanges. In 1971 there were no evening concerts or main stage performances. The festival was fully focused on workshops and small stage performances in order to promote smaller acts as well as already well known performers. The 1972 festival experienced heavy rainfall, but that did not affect festival attendance. Some well known musicians came to watch the festival including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan and Jackson Browne and some of them were interested in performing. The festival organizers were unsure if they should include these performers because the festival was no longer focused on big name acts. Ultimately, Murry McLauchlan offered Joni Mitchell part of his performance time. Bruce Cockburn did the same for Neil Young. The 1973 festival featured musicians from around the world including Bai Konte from West Africa, Martin Carthy from England, Ardoin Family from Louisiana in the United States and the Boys of the Lough from Ulster and North England. 1975 was

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, so the festival added many more female performers. In 1976 the festival received a government grant so that they could include a special group of Indigenous performers from the prairies. In 1977 the festival focused on the origins of North American folk music. The large variety of music was represented under four themes: black, Spanish, francophone and English. The 1979 festival featured a special pavilion of Labrador craftspeople, musicians and storytellers. It also increased its folk music activities for children.

50th anniversary

In 2010, Mariposa celebrated its 50th festival by fielding a lineup of classic Mariposa artists and young developing talent.

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

Murray McLauchlan Murray Edward McLauchlan, (born 30 June 1948) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player. He is best known for his Canadian hits "Farmer's Song," "Whispering Rain," and "Down by the Henry Moore". Early life Mc ...

Ian and Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. ...

, an
The Whiteley Brothers
took the main stage on the festival's final day. Three new performers passed an audition to perform via the "up and coming showcase" program. The 2010 edition also featured

Jason Collett Jason Collett is a Toronto-based Canadian singer-songwriter. He has released six solo studio albums, and is a former member of Broken Social Scene. His latest album, ''Song & Dance Man'', was released in February, 2016. Early life Collett was bo ...

and

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, who headlined the mainstage on Friday and Saturday respectively. To mark the 50th anniversary of the festival, York University's

Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections Clara Thomas (née McCandless; May 22, 1919 – September 26, 2013) was a Canadian academic. A longtime professor of English at York University, she was one of the first academics to devote her work specifically to the study of Canadian literatur ...

launched an online exhibit highlighting a selection of archival material from the 1960s and 1970s. York acquired the Mariposa Folk Fest archives, which includes sound recordings and publicity documents, in 2007.

Notable performers

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, po ...

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

Leon Redbone Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian; August 26, 1949 – May 30, 2019) was a singer-songwriter and musician specializing in jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley classics. Recognized by his hat (often a Panama hat), dark sunglasses, and black tie, Red ...

Edith Fowke Edith Fowke, ''(née'' Margaret Fulton; 30 April 1913 Lumsden, Saskatchewan – 28 Mar 1996 Toronto) was a Canadian folklorist.Nygaard King, Betty and Ruth Pincoe. Fowke was educated at the University of Saskatchewan. She hosted the CBC Radio ...

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

Alanis Obomsawin Alanis Obomsawin, (born August 31, 1932) is an Abenaki American Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has writ ...

* Buffy Saint-Marie *

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Gut ...

Mariposa in the Schools

In the mid-1970s the Mariposa Folk Festival began featuring children's concerts and musical workshops. In addition to this, the year round program "Mariposa in the Schools" was created in order to bring folk musicians to local Ontario schools for musical programming. The Mariposa in the Schools program ended in 2018. However, the Festival continues to have children's programming on the festival weekend in their Folkplay area.

Publications

In 1977, editors Bill Usher and Linda Page-Harpa published an anthology in celebration of the festival titled ''"For what time I am in this world" : stories from Mariposa''. In 2013, Sija Tsai published a doctoral thesis on the history of the festival, titled ''Mariposa Folk Festival: The Sounds, Sights, and Costs of a Fifty-Year Road Trip.'' In 2017, Michael Hill, the artistic director and the vice-president of Mariposa, and an organizer with the festival since 2000, published a book on the festival.

References

External links

*
Mariposa '75
moving images
''Toronto Star''
article, 1987
Mariposa Folk Foundation archives

York University Libraries York University Libraries (YUL) is the library system of York University in Toronto, Ontario. The four main libraries and one archives contain more than 2,500,000 volumes. History The first York library opened in 1961 at Glendon College and ...

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