It’s been over twenty years ago since my family moved from Oklahoma to Florida. Shortly afterwards, a graduate school colleague who was the State Folklorist invited me to come up to North Florida for Memorial Day Weekend to participate in the annual Florida Folklife Festival. For two years, I had taken part in the Oklahoma Folk Festival and knew what to do. Several state folklorists later, what is really Constant Companion and my anniversary weekend has become the family working excursion to the Steven Foster Folk Culture Center State Park.

Not only have we been worker bees, but several times I crossed the line between “academically trained folklorist” to be a “folk.” The theme one year in the Folklife area was Mediterranean and I was a Greek Jew; even cooked stuffed grapeleaves and read the coffee grinds. Another year, as a storyteller, I shared Ashkenazi stories of the Wise Men of Helm and the Sephardic Hodja. Daughter was even called upon to share her experiences preparing for the bat mitzvah ritual (sorry no photos).

There were several breaks between 2000 and this year (see 6-5-22, 6-20-22, and 7-3-22 about the 2022 Festival), including the forced seclusion in Hotel California, in other words COVID. A few weekends ago, Daughter and I trekked north for the weekend of traditional culture related to “fire.”

Also featured were several of the apprentice teams from the past year, including the Puerto Rican Damas de Mundillo (bobbin lace) living and practicing in Orlando.

Also demonstrating and talking about their traditions were this year’s Florida Heritage Award winners (to see the list go to https://dos.myflorida.com/cultural/programs/florida-folklife-program/folk-heritage-awards/list-of-past-recipients/).

Festival time is time to see friends we’ve made along the way and enjoy the Suwanee River.