Paint Creek Folklore Society: A Page in History
by
Glen Morningstar Jr.
In
celebration of the upcoming 30th anniversary year of Paint Creek Folklore Society
ARTICLE 5…Zing into Spring and May Playday's Gather Folk Communities
With
the Tin Whistle Coffeehouses percolating along
and reaching out and touching the Rochester community, the desire to network with other folk
communities who were doing similar activities
struck the officers of Paint Creek Folklore
Society. Their first stop was to explore this thought with the long-reigning Detroit Folklore Society. John Carter,
Tom Radcliffe, Glen & Judi Morningstar and
Cat Reynolds traveled to the December
1977 Detroit
meeting at Bob and Carolyn Montgomery's home in
Southfield. It was a great gathering of a broad range of ages with moms and dads and kids and friends all
pitching in with songs and tunes. After the
song and tune swap, time was set aside
to share ideals and activities. The Detroit group described their Sunday Spring get-away for families that they were in the
planning stages for and asked if Paint Creek
would like to join in. The Paint Creek
officers offered to both pitch in to
help with the Sunday work and offered to
lead the planning and work to add Saturday for a two-day weekend. And away we went…
The
first "SING & STRING SPRING THING" for the Detroit and Paint Creek Folklore Societies was held April 29 & 30, 1978 at the Michigan
Christian Youth Camp in Lapeer. The camp
had a lodge with a beautiful great room
and fireplace for a concert setting and
a spacious recreational basement for dancing. The outdoor facilities boasted a tennis court, pavilion,
swimming and fishing. Two large cabins were
for men and women's dorms. John Carter from Paint Creek (and alumni of Detroit) and Carolyn Montgomery
from Detroit were the Co-chairs for the weekend with Betty Lewis (DFS) leading the craft
activities (macramé, quilting, leather,
pottery, woodworking etc), Tom Radcliffe
and Glen Morningstar (PCFS)
organizing the workshops (autoharp, banjo, fiddle, guitar, hammered dulcimer, lap dulcimer I & II, recorder, tin whistle I & II, percussion and
voice I & II), and Katie
Herschberger and Bob Montgomery (DFS)
handling registrations, lodging and the Sunday hymn sing. 120+ people gathered for the whole weekend to share songs, tunes, dancing and a little
bit about each other. Paint Creek learned a lot
from the seasoned folkies from the
Detroit Folklore Society.
The
success of the first Spring gathering prompted a second gathering in the Spring of 1979. The weekend was called "Zing into Spring" and expanded
to include Friday night for registration
and a big "singaround the
fireplace". The youth camp in Lapeer again
was the location. This event was marked by special invitations that went out to the Grand Rapids Folklore Center, the Great Black Swamp Folksong Society
(Ohio), the MSU Folksong Society and the U of M Folklore Society. In addition to the planners
and organizers for the first Spring gathering,
Don Hays was the workshop organizer,
Rick Ott and Karen Young were the
concert organizers and Dotty Decker
joined Betty Lewis to lead the Sing-ARounds. Burt
Schwartz came in and led the dancing with
Glen Morningstar pitching in some squares. The Olde Michigan RUFFWATER STRINGBAND, which had been formed the previous Autumn, provided the core music for the dance with lots of folks
sitting in with the band. We were pleased to
have a fair number of members from
sister/brother folk societies be a part
of the 120+ crowd that joined together for
that wonderful weekend.
After
a year's rest, Paint Creek Folklore Society agreed to host a Spring gathering in 1981. Spinning from the Spring Things and Zings, and incorporating
programming from Berea Christmas Country Dance
School (KY) and the Greater Folklore Society of
Washington, Glen Morningstar constructed a
oneday program for the event. The focus
of this weekend was
to bring together many folk organizations for
the benefit of supporting, growing and learning from each other. Fourteen folklore and folksong societies from around Michigan and surrounding States were invited to the first May Playday on May 2nd, 1981. President Rick Ott and Vice President Gene Menton led the organizing with the Playday hosted
at the Detroit Country Day School campus in Beverly Hills where Gene was an instructor. Registration was from
Noon-1 pm, workshops and jamming ran
from 1-5 pm, dinner was from 5-7 pm, an old time Saturday night dance was held from 7-8:30 pm and a Spring Fever Concert was held from 8:30-11
pm. The attendance was huge with folklore and
dulcimer societies from Indiana and Ohio bringing large contingents.
Saturday night host volunteers were connected
with long-distance travelers and many of the
host-guest combinations traveled on Sunday to the Folk Fair at the Michigan State Fairgrounds.
Beginning
with the second Playday held on May 8, 1982 our May Playday moved to our current home, the University Presbyterian Church complex on Adams Road. For the first time we utilized both Lawnridge
Hall where we had been holding our meetings
and Fellowship Hall where we presented our Tin
Whistle Coffeehouses. The 1981 theme was continued and
organized by President Charlie Stewart and Vice President Judi Morningstar. Again, the turnout was huge with many of the Michigan Folk Societies
joining in from the grapevine press of 1981 and
the contacts made at the Folk Fair.
Groups from as far west as Grand Rapids
and as far east as Port
Huron came with
large contingents of members. Indiana and Ohio continued strong representation.
The
third May Playday in 1983 was organized by President Judi Morningstar and member Carl Visconti. The new twist for this May 7th event was the addition of a
traditional May Pole Dance picked up
from the Great Black Swamp Dulcimer Festival in Lima, Ohio. The ribbons for our first May Pole were constructed by PCFS dancers Susan Stoltz and Jan
Pavlinak and have been in continued use at all May Playdays since then.
The
fourth Playday on May 5, 1984 was organized by member Judi
Morningstar and an enlisted tablet of
volunteers. The new twist for this Playday was the addition of a Sunday "Big Sing & Ice Cream Cooler Sendoff". Many long-distance regulars had
been staying over Saturday night and the Sunday
sing gave all guests and hosts a place to
wrap-up their Playday friendships. The
first Sunday sing and ice cream social
was held at Don and Alice Hays' home in Rochester. Photos from that event revealed around 40 people attending, singing together and
enjoying the many ice cream combinations
presented by Don and Alice.
In
1988, the May Playday activities were enhanced by adding a kid's track for the workshops. This track became very popular and well attended during the
following years and continued through 1995.
Professor Bloono's Balloonology (Jim
Tait), Puppets by Sandy Albright and
Silly-Song-Sing-Alongs by Pat Tait were
perennial favorites. At the 1992 May Playday,
Fred Fuller from Yale, Michigan organized a
Robin Hood Mummer's Play that was performed by all ages. To this day you can hear talk about the great acting and wonderful costuming from that
special workshop presentation.
These
were the roots of our May Playday. Countless hours of organizing and administering these events have been volunteered by Paint Creek members and
many miles have been traveled by folkie friends
to gather at the UPC in Rochester. When you hear that the next May Playday is being planned, raise your hand high to join in and keep this fun event going.