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Transplant might save Folk Festival
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 19, 2002
TALLAHASSEE -- When lawmakers sacrificed two staff positions and $39,000 from the Florida Folk Festival last month to help plug a budget deficit, many thought that ended the popular spring event after 50 years.
Not so fast.
State officials are working on a rescue plan. The Department of Environmental Protection, which runs the state's park system, is negotiating a handover of the festival from the Department of State, which suffered the budget cuts.
"They are discussing all possibilities. Everything is open right now," said DEP spokeswoman Lucia Ross. Up to 30,000 people attend the Memorial Day festival each year to listen to bluegrass, Appalachian, Cuban or Cajun music at a state park on the Suwannee River. A dozen stages are scattered around the 850-acre Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, north of Lake City.
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