The Brandeis University Folk Festival

The Brandeis Folk Festival, established in 1963, was an annual weekend of folk, blues and other traditional American "roots" music held on the Brandeis campus until at least 1967. After that, there is no mention of the festival in the Brandeis records. The festival was in keeping with the spirit of the times, when folk music was flourishing. In the Vietnam War era. The Brandeis Folk Festival also included square dancing and music workshops. Performers like Bob Siggins of the Charles River Valley Boys conducted guitar and banjo workshops in spaces across campus. At the third annual Folk Festival in 1965, there was a banjo contest in the Olin-Sang Auditorium. The winner received a Vega brand banjo and the opportunity to play in the Saturday closing performance with blues performers like Judy Roderick and 69-year-old Mance Lipscomb. Concerts were widely attended by the student body. The relevance of folk music began to wane in the late 1960s, perhaps explaining the apparent discontinuance of the festival after 1967.