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Riverfolk offers new opportunities to music and arts lovers in Manchester

Perennial favorites Billy King, Emily Slomovits, and Carol Palms play a set at the last Gazebo Concert of the 2022 season.

by Marsha Chartrand

If you’re looking forward to summer and fall music events in 2023, listen up!

The small and aging Riverfolk Music & Arts Organization board has, for a variety of reasons, decided that it will be disbanding.

Back in 1989, Carol Palms and Bill Farmer had a vision to have a series of summer concerts in the new gazebo in Wurster Park, and under the auspices of the Recreation Task Force of the Community Resource Center, they made it happen. They carried off a dozen or more seasons of the concerts before Mark Palms had a vision for a “Riverfolk Festival,” a day-long music and arts festival that was held at Carr Park for a 10-year run.

Rising costs, increasing liability, and a changing society ended the Riverfolk Festival but it brought many good things to the Manchester community during its time, including an increased appreciation of the arts and an expansion of the type of programming that Riverfolk could offer. The Gazebo Concert series became part of Riverfolk early on, as did children musicals, summer camps, blacksmith shop concerts, and a variety of other projects.

The resignation of Riverfolk Creative Director, Aileen Rohwer, last year due to an out-of-state move, was a difficult transition for the board and may have sped up the process, but it was bound to happen eventually, Palms admits. “It a different time, and it time for something different,” she added.

However, the good news is there still a strong chance that something could happen … if you want to consider how you could be involved in making those dreams a reality! These changes bring opportunities for new people to become involved and maybe make things like the Gazebo Concert Series and other musical events in Manchester look a bit — or a lot — different from how they have in the past.

“We’ve had a pretty strong lean toward traditional and folk music over the years … but I’m not sure that everyone sees this concert series as needing to be that way. If you want to hear music, you might want to hear a country band, rock, some pop, some covers … and it would be fine if someone decided to take it in a new direction,” Palms continued. “It could be extremely popular to hear new things that we haven’t put into the series previously.”

While she is willing to serve as a supportive resource and a backup, 34 years of being the go-to person, and now dealing with the finances, grant-writing, and other things that “really aren’t part of my skill set,” are telling Carol that it a good time to step back and start looking for that person — or a small group of people — who can program a concert series where there is already a budget available and plenty of local musicians who would be willing to play.

“It shouldn’t be difficult to fill a series for this summer,” she said.

The Manchester Area Historical Society has agreed to host a fall Blacksmith Shop concert series that will be organized by Grant Flick, who is already a familiar face to Manchester audiences. A native of Bowling Green, Ohio, Grant has been a member of several ensembles who’ve performed at Riverfolk events, on instruments including violin, mandolin, and tenor guitar. He currently at the University of Michigan, studying Jazz Performance.

But meanwhile, there are still Gazebo Concerts to be planned, and that process needs to begin soon.

“It a tradition that this community has had for 34 years, and we don’t want to lose it,” said Carol. She would like people reading this article to consider it as an open invitation. “The need is out there; there’s an opportunity to get involved. I’d be happy to talk to anyone who might be interested — I’m just looking forward to a change in responsibility that has moved far away from my skill set.”

She invites anyone to contact the Mirror, via email or phone at (734) 328-1386, to indicate their interest in helping out, and she will reach out to you.

On behalf of all of those who have worked with Riverfolk over the years, Carol offers sincere thanks for the support the organization has always received from the community, from the beginning. “And even through COVID, people got the message that just taking an interest and being a part of this effort was important,” she says. “Although we had our series primarily online, they supported the organization, very generously, and respected the need to gather.

“People do get that. And I’m so grateful for it.”

by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.