Portland’s Folk Festival has been taking place since 2018 in the City of Roses, but the 2024 installment proved to be a challenge as a snow and ice storm shut the city down. The bad weather led to the cancellation of two out of three nights of the festival.
Rather than write it off, organizers Scott Gilmore and Sarah Vitort (who also comprise the duo Fox and Bones) went to work with the artists and venues to reschedule, settling on one full day and two stages of music on Sunday, February 4th. Nearly every artist that was originally scheduled was able to play on the make-up date. Utilizing the Crystal Ballroom’s main stage, along with its downstairs bar Lola’s Room, the Folk Festival managed to pull off a full day of outstanding music. It also collected warm clothing and money for local charities.
The condensed schedule meant artists had to get down to business, and attendees had only to walk up or down a flight of stairs to see the next act. It was a folk festival, but there were a variety of styles existing within that loose categorization. Singer/songwriter troubadour Jeremy James Meyer was followed by the indie folk of Glitterfox. Folk duo Caliko followed the indie soul of Christopher Worth, who was backed up by funk/soul band Greaterkind as well as vocal duo The AM. California-based headliners ALO managed to make a special trip back to Portland to finish things off with a set of their free-flowing rock jams.
When all was said and done, the storm didn’t dampen the spirit of the gathering. The 2025 Portland’s Folk Festival is set to take place next year on January 17th and 18th.
