Philadelphia Folk Festival hums familial tunes in its 54th annual event

What's keeping the Philadelphia Folk Festival - in its 54th annual incarnation - humming like a well-oiled music box this sunny weekend at the Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford Township?

It takes a family. Make that three generations of family now, both bloodlined and "extended." All bonding over the music, the colorful (often tie-dyed) scene, the shared and embracing sense of community.

"Even people you don't know, you feel like you do," suggested second generation festival-goer and sometime volunteer Barrett Oterson.

Visitors feel the familial vibes everywhere. Walking Salford Station Road towards the fest from the free parking lot, we came upon a colorful lemonade and handcrafts stand supervised by 65-year-old John and Diana Ochotny and their grandchildren Andrew Hurley, 6, and his sister Sophia, 8.

"The festival's great fun and a helping hand for the community," Diana said. "Our profits go to the Perkiomenville SPCA. John and I started hanging out at the fest when we were 15 or 16."

At the main ticket booth, we ran into three generations of the Ingster clan. Volunteer ticket chairman Lauren Ingster was supervising as son-in-law Nathan Walker worked an electronic ticket exchange. Then daughter Melissa Ingster Walker arrived looking very pregnant and with 21-month-old son Auden Walker in her arms. "You'll find a lot of people who first felt the festival vibes 'in utero,'" she laughed.

While just a couple years older than the Philly folk festival, Celtic musician Tim Britton claims "distinct memories" of the first gathering in Paoli. Helping Tim "imprint," his late dad George Britton was one of the true Godfathers of the Philly folk scene - a charismatic performer and scene sparker who helped launch the Folk Festival, its parental Philadelphia Folksong Society and the legendary Main Point music club.

George Britton also had been an engaging music teacher who introduced thousands to baritone ukulele and guitar. And to folk classics like "Jimmy Crack Corn" and "Down in the Valley" that Tim - his equally talented sisters Ellen King and Wendy Young, plus their grown daughters and sons and Wendy's spouse Peter - dusted off for a festival performance at Saturday afternoon's "Teach Your Children Well" workshop.They will perform again Sunday, the fest's final day, as Britton Family: Young Kings of Britton.

"I came up with that name," volunteered Evangeline Young, youngest (at 17) of Wendy and Peter Young's three daughters, and (no surprise) a musician/actress in her own right. She's just finished a locally-lensed indie film called "Red."

"One of the things I love about folk music is it's so inclusive,"Evangeline added. "Everybody knows these songs, passes them around. That's how the generations are woven together."

Keeping the music alive is crucial to Philadelphia Folksong Society's newly named, 29-year-old executive director Justin Nordell, another festival lifer/heir.

"We do it year-round with the Odyssey Program in schools and here at festival with The Great Groove Band," a three-day learning/practice/performing session for musical sprites. He also aims to fan flames through the society's move into a decommissioned Roxborough church "with space for classrooms and shows."

As for those who fear the pristine, exurban festival site could be snatched away by a developer, the three generations of Godshall family who own and occupy it vow "no way," said Pat Godshall. "We love having the festival here. My eldest daughter Karen, now 43, met her husband working on the festival grounds crew and still camps out with her daughter and stepdaughter. Then when the crowds depart, the wild animals - foxes, deer and geese - come out of hiding. It's back to being a nature preserve. I call it my piece of heaven."