National Folk Festival Announces Roster of Returning and New Sponsors for 2016

"Greensboro, N.C., August 31, 2016  — The National Folk Festival announced today its entire list of sponsors for 2016. The 2016 Festival will run in downtown Greensboro from 6 – 10:30 pm on Friday, September 9; from noon – 10:30 pm on Saturday, September 10; and from noon – 6:30 pm on Sunday, September 11. More than 100,000 people attended the Festival in 2015 over the course of the three-day weekend.

“We are delighted to have such a robust group of sponsors partnering with us on the National Folk Festival,” said ArtsGreensboro President and CEO Tom Philion, who leads the Festival fundraising efforts. “Not only have many longtime ArtsGreensboro supporters chosen to support the Festival, but many new organizations have also joined in this effort to provide a FREE, three-day weekend celebrating the roots and heritage of all Americans.”

These sponsors are new for 2016:

·      BB&T: Sponsoring the N.C. Folklife Area

·      Duke Energy: Dance Pavilion Co-Sponsor

·      North Carolina Education Lottery: Dance Pavilion Co-Sponsor

·      Downtown Greensboro, Inc.: Festival Trolley Sponsor

·      Mickey Truck Bodies: Volunteer program Sponsor

·      ITG Brands

·      Allen Tate: VIP Viewing Area Sponsor

·      Ben & Jerry’s: Creamy Frozen Dessert Sponsor

·      Kona Ice of Greensboro: Icy Frozen Dessert Sponsor

These sponsors are returning in 2016:

·      VF Corporation: Wrangler Stage

·      Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina: Lawn Stage

·      City of Greensboro

·      Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau

·      Action Greensboro and Its Supporting Foundations, including

o   Joseph M. Bryan Foundation

o   Cemala Foundation

o   Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation

o   Phillips Foundation

·      North Carolina Arts Council: N.C. Folklife Area

·      Cone Health: Wellness Sponsor

·      PNC Bank: N.C. Arts Marketplace Sponsor

·      Guilford County

·      Lincoln Financial Group

·      National Endowment for the Arts: Fabric of Freedom

·      AJ Fletcher Foundation: Fabric of Freedom

·      Deuterman Law Group: Festival Mobile App Sponsor

·      Foothills Brewing Company: Craft Beer Co-Sponsor

·      Natty Greene’s Brewing Co.: Craft Beer Co-Sponsor

·      Lincoln Financial Foundation: Fabric of Freedom

·      McDonald’s: Family Stage Sponsor

·      Weaver Foundation

·      Wells Fargo: Family Area Sponsor

·      The Carroll Companies: Artist Sponsor

·      Guilford Merchants Association: Info Booth Sponsor

·      NC by Train/Amtrak: Transportation Sponsor

·      Pepsi Bottling Ventures: Beverage Sponsor

·      Senn Dunn Insurance & PURE Insurance: Opening Reception Sponsors

·      O.Henry & Proximity Hotels: Hospitality Partners

·      AT&T North Carolina: Artist Sponsor

·      Bank of America: Artist Sponsor

·      Craft Insurance: Artist Sponsor

·      North Carolina Folklife Institute

·      All-State Restaurant Equipment

Media sponsors for 2016 include:

·      News & Record

·      Our State magazine

·      Capitol Broadcasting Company

·      iHeart Media

·      Fox 8

·      WFDD

·      UNC-TV

·      WBRF

·      Guilford County Women’s Journal

In-kind sponsors for 2016 include:

·      All-State Restaurant Equipment

·      Caffey Distributing

·      Carolina Theatre

·      Greensboro Grasshoppers

·      North Carolina Folklife Institute

·      PTI Airport

·      The Printery

·      Replacements, Ltd.

·      R.H. Barringer

·      Tech Triad

Approximately 300 artists—musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople—will take part in the National Folk Festival, with more than 40 different musical groups performing on eight outdoor performance venues throughout downtown Greensboro.

To learn more about all these artists, their traditions, and their stories, please visit nationalfolkfestival.com/performers and connect with the Festival on social media:

·      #NCFolkFest

·      Twitter: @NtlFolkFestNC

·      Instagram: NationalFolkFestNC

·      YouTube: National Folk Festival NC

# # #

About the 2016 National Folk Festival: Co-produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) and ArtsGreensboro, the National Folk Festival is celebrating the second year of its three-year residency in downtown Greensboro in 2016. The FREE, three-day event is America’s longest-running festival of traditional arts. nationalfolkfestival.com

About the National Folk Festival: Since it was first presented in St. Louis in 1934, the National Folk Festival has celebrated the roots, richness, and variety of American culture. Championed in its early years by Eleanor Roosevelt, it was the first event of national stature to present the arts of many nations, races, and languages on equal footing. An exuberant traveling festival that embraces the diverse cultural expressions of the American people in the 21st century, the National Folk Festival is FREE to the public, and is produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) in partnership with communities around the country.

About the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA): The National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) is one of the nation’s premier non-profit cultural organizations dedicated to the presentation and documentation of folk, tribal, and ethnic arts in the United States. Founded in 1933, it is the nation’s oldest producing and presenting organization with such a focus. Its programs celebrate and honor deeply rooted cultural expressions—music, crafts, stories, and dance passed on through time by families and communities as well as by tribal, ethnic, and occupational groups. The NCTA stresses excellence and authenticity in presenting artists to the public in festivals, tours, concerts, media programs, exhibitions, recordings, and other activities, and works in partnership with communities across American to establish new, sustainable traditional arts events that bring lasting social, cultural, and economic benefits. www.ncta-usa.org

About ArtsGreensboro: With an annual budget of approximately $3.5 million, ArtsGreensboro is a catalyst for innovation to build recognition and support for the arts. Through its ArtsFund-supported grant programs, the 17DAYS Arts & Culture Festival, the Levitt AMP Greensboro Music Series, I HEART ARTS Month, and other opportunities including the National Folk Festival, ArtsGreensboro is driving the health and vitality of our community by supporting arts education, celebrating the diversity of Greensboro, and driving economic impact through excellence in arts programming. artsgreensboro.org"

- A Press Release

Duke Energy Set to Resume Vegetation Management in Westerwood

"GREENSBORO, NC (July 18, 2014) – Duke Energy will resume its vegetation management and tree trimming around electrical lines in the Westerwood neighborhood on Monday, July 21. The efforts come after City of Greensboro and Duke Energy officials met with neighborhood representatives and collaborated to develop a plan for completing the work.

The first phase of work that will begin in Westerwood affects homes along Woodlawn and Crestland avenues, North Mendenhall, Courtland, Fairmont and Lakeview streets, and East Lake Drive. The growth and proximity of vegetation in the neighborhood is extremely heavy, and, in some cases, crews will need to de-energize the lines to work safely.  Any necessary power outages will start at approximately 8 am and last approximately three hours. Affected customers will be notified in advance of the outage.

The City, Duke Energy and neighborhood representatives met in June to discuss the resumption of the vegetation management. The focus of the discussions was on reducing the impact on residents and Duke Energy customers, ensuring the safety of residents and workers, and using directional pruning methods to train the tree to grow away from the line while maintaining the health of the trees.

To enhance the safety of property owners, motorists, pedestrians and tree trimming crews, there will be controlled access points to the neighborhood while the work is ongoing. Residents will still be allowed to access their property, but traffic will likely be limited to one lane and motorists will be required to drive at slow speeds through the neighborhood.

For more information about Duke’s vegetation management program and species of trees that might be more compatible in various areas, visit the following link: http://www.duke-energy.com/safety/right-of-way-management/before-you-plant.asp"

Submitted by City of Greensboro

City staff pulls "Save Our Trees" signs, tries to return them

Recent "tone deaf" actions of city staff are fueling a conspiracy theory that the city of Greensboro is in cahoots with Duke Energy, Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan said today. Staff, in an effort to enforce sign regulations citywide, recently pulled up "Save Our Trees" signs in a few neighborhoods just outside of downtown, causing an uproar from opponents of Duke Energy's heavy-handed tree trimming line maintenance practices.

"Evidently city staff, over the last few weeks, have been doing a clean sweep of signs that are in medians, ecetera," Vaughan said. "All hell is breaking loose. It’s just another irritation that didn’t need to happen."

Vaughan said staff members are now trying to find signs and return them to their respective neighborhoods. 

Council will vote on the proposed tree ordinance at its June 18 meeting. Read more about the battle over trees in this week's issue of YES! Weekly.

Tree saga with Duke Energy continues to unfold

Last week, we covered a story about trees being cut in the Fisher Park neighborhood to make way for power lines. In order to provide service, Duke Energy contracts with Asplundh Tree Expert Co. to keep the lines clear from any potential interference caused by branches, and in order to save money, the cuts are done about every nine years.

This angered many residents in the Fisher Park neighborhood, and after the story ran we heard that residents clear across town — just outside High Point, actually — are experiencing the same problem. They say the trees are cut drastically, that residents weren't warned as Duke claims and that Asplundh employees were rude and left a mess.

One of the residents featured in the article, UNCG professor Kay Lovelace, called us the morning the article ran. After initially telling her that they would only trim a single mulberry tree in her backyard, an Asplundh representative called to say they would be cutting all the trees lining the edge of her backyard because they interfered with a power line. Lovelace believed the change was in retaliation for her public criticism of the company, and invited YES! Weekly to attend her meeting with the company the following morning.

Asplundh representative Eddie Webb was one of the people Lovelace expected, and when I wrote the initial article I spoke to Webb and he refused to answer any questions about his company, saying I needed to call Duke. After explaining that I understood and would do that I asked him to confirm that they contracted with Duke, but when I asked if Asplundh was based in Greensboro, he hung up on me. In fact, even after finally getting a hold of Asplundh's spokesperson I still couldn't get any questions answered, and while I spoke with her briefly she did not call me back with any information.

The meeting was set for shortly after 7 a.m., so I arrived a few minutes before the hour with a photographer trailing a few minutes behind (because it was early, not as an intentional move).

Asplundh representative Phil Moser was already there, and when Lovelace introduced me he was visibly bothered.

"I'm not going to talk to her while you're here," he said. "I'm just going to cut. You need to get with Duke Power."

The purpose of the meeting was to explain to Lovelace which trees needed to be cut, how it would happen and why, and she hoped to convince them not to cut as severely as she feared, even showing them photos of the birds that roost in the trees as a deterrent. I stated I had no intention of leaving but would leave it up to Lovelace what she wanted to do. After all, it was her property and her trees.

She decided I should wait in the drive way along the side of the house, where I could see the representative but not hear him as he gestured towards the trees and pointed out specific branches with a green laser pointer.

Soon after Eddie Webb showed up, and as he walked past me I introduced myself and asked for his name, to which he replied that he needed to get to the backyard. Webb and Moser did not give their names, but Lovelace provided them because she was told who would meet with her.

They took photos of the trees with a digital camera before leaving and telling Lovelace they would be back the next morning —Feb. 24 — at 7 a.m. so she would be home from work and could watch.

"The homeowner has to negotiate with them," Lovelace said to us after the meeting. "If you're not there you don't have any control."

At least three Asplundh trucks were already parked in front of her house at this point, with cones behind her property marking off space around the trees in question. The result of the meeting was that two trees, the mulberry and a cedar, would be cut, but Lovelace felt they might be more reasonable about how much was removed. They agreed to cut the cedar at an angle, she said, leaving more of the tree in tact.

Along with photographer Justin Jackson, who snapped a few shots of the trio standing in the backyard from the same distance I stood, I talked to Lovelace briefly before leaving to see if we could find Asplundh operating anywhere else in the vicinity. Sure enough, we found a whole fleet parked along East Bessemer, and while there was no active cutting, nearly 10 employees were on hand.

As I drove Jackson back to his car in front of Lovelace's house, just over an hour since Lovelace's meeting began, we noticed Webb sitting in an Asplundh truck on her block.

Webb had returned, and so after dropping Jackson off I circled around and parked so I could see her house from a concealed location around the corner to see what would happen. As I parked, Lovelace called to say she was on her way to work but Webb had just contacted her to say they were actually going to cut the trees as soon as possible. The only explanation she was given was that Asplundh's arborist had insisted they finish it that day as originally planned, she said.

Lovelace said she also knew the company was cutting on Carolina Circle a few blocks away, and a quick check while I waited for Webb's crew to set up confirmed it. Before long, a myriad of Asplundh trucks was parked in front of and behind Lovelace's house. I felt like we were playing a cat and mouse game of sorts, so once they were set up and I was positive they intended to cut her trees, I parked and approached.

Webb was less than pleased to see I was back, but neither he nor his employees said anything to me as I stood and waited for them to cut. Before long, everything was in place and Webb explained to his men which specific branches would have to be cut. Once one of them was in the basket on the end of a truck's arm, hovering above the center of the tree's crown, Webb occasionally stopped him from cutting a branch, saying it could be left in tact.

Coincidentally, District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny, the district where Fisher Park is located, drove up for a business meeting nearby and got out of his car to watch briefly. He understood the residents' concerns, he said, but once spring came and the leaves were back it wouldn't look so bad. He knew because it happened in his neighborhood before too, Matheny said, and he saw little alternative for Duke because the lines needed to be maintained and cutting more frequently would likely be much more expensive.

Photo 1: Asplundh representative Eddie Webb, left, uses a tool to indicate which branches should be cut.

Photo 2: Webb, left, watched as an Asplundh employee cut branches, some of which can be seen on the ground, from Lovelace's mulberry tree.

Photos and article by Eric Ginsburg.