Still folky, after all these years: Seattle Folklore Society turns 40

Though Seattle is now widely known for its lively folk scene, there was a time when you had drive all the way to Portland to hear a great folk singer.

All that changed after Reed College students John Ullman, Irene Namkung and Phil and Vivian Williams moved to Seattle in the mid-1960s.

"We got tired of driving to Portland," recalls Ullman. "So we got together for dinner one night and decided to ask 20 people for $20 each and put on a concert of our own."

On Nov. 15, 1966, the newly-formed Seattle Folklore Society presented blues players Mississippi Fred McDowell and Mance Lipscomb at the University Friends Center.

Forty years later to the day, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, the Folklore Society celebrates its 40th anniversary at the same location. The party is free. While there's no featured performer, you're invited to sing or play at the open mike or song circle and contribute to a "memories page." An exhibit of posters and memorabilia will be on display.

On Saturday, SFS also presents a concert by co-founders Phil and Vivian Williams at the Phinney Neighborhood Center.

Though the Folklore Society has maintained a mostly low profile, it has had a huge local influence here. The organization spawned the Northwest Folklife Festival. It also provided a friendly musical environment for such future national stars as fiddler Mark O'Connor (and his teacher, Barbara Lamb) and autoharp master Bryan Bowers, as well local favorites like old-time-music sweetheart Sandy Bradley.

SFS gave rise to the region's vibrant traditional dance scene; the University District Folkstore; and Traditional Arts Services, Ullman and Namkung's booking agency, which put Seattle on the traditional music circuit.

At its high point, in the 1980s, SFS operated a full-service folk arts institution, which led to some comic political intrigue.

"I think the fact that it has existed for 40 years continuously is very impressive," says current SFS President Karen Shaw, originally from Atlanta. "And that it is an entirely volunteer organization."

SFS started at the tail end of the folk revival of the late '50s and early '60s, when groups such as the Weavers (with Pete Seeger), the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary had hits. College students such as Ullman dug into the sources of those popular acts and discovered American "roots music" — — Delta blues, bluegrass, cowboy songs, shape-note singing, sea chanteys and all the rest.

In its early years, SFS presented a checklist of the greats: Elizabeth Cotten, Doc Watson, the New Lost City Ramblers, Bukka White, Bill Monroe, Rev. Gary Davis, Ralph Stanley, Son House and many others.

"The real driving force," says Ullman, "was that we wanted to see them, but also that we wanted to learn to play like them. I've had many people come up to me and say, 'I got my start hearing Elizabeth Cotten.' "

In 1972, SFS teamed up with the National Folk Festivals Association and the National Park Service to present the first Northwest Folklife Festival, at Seattle Center.

As with most volunteer organizations, the Folklore Society's energy ebbed after a while, but it revived in 1981 when it moved into the Monroe Center (formerly Monroe Junior High School) in Ballard. Over the next four years, the Monroe Center turned into "folk city," boasting concerts by the Boys of the Lough and Flaco Jiménez; a full roster of classes presented by Seattle Folk Arts; and a wonderful Greek café. SFS membership skyrocketed to over 2,000.

Unfortunately, SFS leaders hadn't done the math for this large operation and, in 1985, fell on hard times. At first, the society attempted a Keystone coup d'etat of its more successful offspring, the Folklife Festival. But in what is now affectionately known by insiders as "The Great Computer Robbery," a Folklifer snatched the society's computer files and hid them in a closet.

The dean of the law school at the University of Washington was conscripted to settle the dispute, and the organizations quite amicably went their separate ways. Folkie philanthropist Ed Littlefield stepped forward with a $50,000 grant for SFS.

That gift allowed the society to flourish yet again in the 1990s, when Suellen Adams and others led yet another heyday, booking singer/songwriters at the Roadrunner Coffee House, in Wallingford, and at the Grateful Bread, in Wedgwood.

The Seattle Folklore Society currently has just under 1,000 members, and reported a balanced budget in 2005 of $120,000, for 40 to 50 concerts and dances and its Rainy Day Camp (for singing) and Bash on Vashon camp (for playing and dancing).

Amazingly, SFS also has an endowment and savings of nearly $200,000, a legacy of the Littlefield gift.

"We're very conservative," says Shaw, who explained that the organization spends only the interest from its endowment.

Adams thinks one reason the Folklore Society has endured is that it has remained open to new energy, but structured enough to keep anyone "unkind" from taking over. Even today, newcomers can propose a concert and the society will help them produce it.

Shaw wants to raise the organization's profile, increase dance offerings, expand membership — especially to youth — and feature more world music.

She may have more pressing problems. The Seattle School District, which owns the current SFS anchor venue, the Phinney Neighborhood Center, may raise the rent or sell the venue.

Meanwhile, she is optimistic.

"I have no doubt we'll be celebrating our 80th anniversary," says Shaw.

Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com