FAI

On Friday, I had the day off of work and the kids had the day off of school. It gave us the opportunity to check out the International Folk Alliance conference downtown. They advertised an instrument petting zoo and a special performance with children's music.

With over 1800 participants in town for the conference, downtown was bustling. It was pretty easy to spot the folksters, and I enjoyed doing so. I even saw a busker outside Walgreen's!



There was a lot going on at the conference, and I was happy that they thought to include some family action.



The instrument petting zoo was quite impressive. They had a large assortment of instruments--some familiar, some not--laid out for the kids to handle and play at will.



Satchel was having a case of "I'm shy," but Jiro had a good time.




We could have spent several hours in the zoo, but we arrived late and were soon ushered into the performance space. Turns out the show was being filmed for a PBS show. (I didn't catch the name!) The bright lights on the stage pretty much made taking pictures pointless.



There were several acts who came on--a woman from Canada, a man from Australia, and several locals including Andy Cohen, Valerie June, and Wild Willy. It was nice for me to see the what the locals had to offer. All of the acts were really good about getting the kids involved and there was lots of opportunity for them to jump, stomp, scream, shout, dance, and sing.

Most of the crowd was moms and their pre-schoolers, which I attribute mostly to the Friday morning time slot. I'd say the show is definitely worth playing hooky for if you get the chance next year.