This weekend, three music stages, a live broadcast on KLCC and the Eugene folk community will all merge on the East Lawn of the EMU for three days of a gala. Celebrating its 30th year, the Willamette Valley Folk Festival returns with a strong musical line-up and some new additions.
All this adds up to be quite a juggling act for Launa DeGiusti, heritage music coordinator for the cultural forum. DeGiusti said that she is trying to improve on the already popular festival.
MacKenzie Banta and Britt Tvenge, students in the art and administration minor at the University, are in charge of providing entertainment for the youngest population at the festival. For the first year, a children’s stage will be operating. The children’s stage is DeGiusti’s attempt to make the festival an event providing something for everyone.
“I wanted to see the festival as something for all ages,” DeGiusti said, who has been involved with the festival for three years. “I’ve seen children on the side of the hill, playing in whatever mud they can find. I saw the need to have a place where there was children’s activity.”

Banta and Tvenge have embraced the chance to gain experience in festival coordination while undergraduates.
“It has been very intensive,” Tvenge said. “It has been a crash course in learning about festival management.”
DeGiusti said that the learning experience has been amplified by the fact that Banta and Tvenge are creating something that has never been there before.
“The Folk Festival has been around for 30 years, so people are familiar with it and they want to play it,” DeGiusti said. “With these guys, they’ve had to create something that is new. It’s more of a challenge.”
The children’s stage, which Banta said aims to entertain parents and children alike, will have performers from 11:00 p.m. till 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and 11:00 p.m. till 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.
“There will be art booths for the kids to have a good time in,” Banta said.
Music, juggling and magicians will all be performing on the kids stage.
Besides children’s activities, the Folk Festival boasts an impressive and eclectic line-up. Nationally and internationally known latin, reggae, gospel and bluegrass groups will meet local favorites like Justin King and Sugar Beets. This variety is arranged into a different theme each day. Friday’s theme is international music. Headliner Omar Torrez will bring his unique blend of Latin, flamenco and funk to the stage. Saturday will be more traditional folk, with the critically acclaimed California Guitar Trio headlining. Sunday’s theme is gospel and blues. Although DeGiusti admits that Pink Martini is neither gospel nor blues, she said that she expects them to be a favorite among students. Pink Martini headline Sunday night.
Norma Fraser, a reggae legend who will be performing at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, said that she really likes playing music, and living, in Eugene. Growing up in Jamaica, her parents hoped that she would choose to become a doctor or a lawyer, but she had other ideas. Her driving, supple voice caught the eye of Studio 1 producers. Shortly thereafter, she was touring with the likes of Bob Marley and The Skatalites.
She moved to Eugene almost a year ago and said she loves it here.
“I had never heard of it before. I’ve been all over the world and I love it here,” Fraser said. She added that there are “good music lovers” here in Eugene.
“It’s a small town with big minded, big hearted people.”

Fraser regularly performs two Marley classics, “No Woman No Cry” and “Stir It Up,” and will likely play one or both of these on Friday.
She said that she remembers Bob Marley as a selfless humanitarian.
‘His word was his honor,” she said. “If he was alive, he would say, that he wanted nothing for himself, just to give.”
Complementing the festival, The Buzz Coffeeshop in the EMU will offer entertainment on Saturday and Sunday organized by the Folk Alliance and Folklore Society.