The Old School House Rocks concert series takes a folkloric turn on Saturday, June 29, with a musical presentation by well-known folklorist, musician, and author Stephen Wade.

Stephen Wade. [Image copyright 2011 by Mary E. Yeomans]

Wade will take the stage at 7 p.m., and combining images, live music and spoken narrative, will take his audience on a remarkable journey into musical traditions across the American South. He will bring to life the colorful stories of how the music worked in the lives of largely unheralded folk artists--domestics, farm laborers, state prisoners, schoolchildren, cowboys, housewives and mothers, loggers and miners--whose music has become part of the wider American musical sound-scape.    

The performance is based on Wade's acclaimed recent book, The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience (Uni­versity of Illinois Press, 2012). The book (with accompanying CD) presents the extraordinarily rich back stories of thirteen performances originally captured on Library of Congress field recordings between 1934 and 1942 in locations reaching from Southern Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta and the Great Plains.

Well known in the Washington area for his theatrical performance, Banjo Dancing, which came to D.C. for a three-week run in 1981 and stayed for a decade, Wade released in 2012 Banjo Diary: Lessons from Tradition on Smithsonian Folkways. The album was nominated at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. His occasional commentaries on folksongs and traditional tunes have appeared on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.  A five-time Helen Hayes award nominee, in 2003, Wade received the Helen Hayes/Charles MacArthur award as composer, adaptor, and musical director for the world premiere of Zora Neale Hurston's Polk County.

 Tickets are $20 and available online, by phone at 540-882-3018, ext 117, or at the door.

Camps for children of all ages and many interests are offered at Waterford's Old School this summer. Spots are still available for the 2013 camps, so please sign up right away.  

Three camps in July and August are offered by Waterford area resident Robin Myers, founder and president of Navigate:  

Young Explorers. July 15-19, 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Grades rising kindergarten to second. $135. Join us as we use our senses and explore the world of Waterford as a naturalist. With Waterford's beautiful Old School as our home base we will discover and learn about our community's surroundings through fun nature games, crafts and activities.

Summer Heritage Crafts. July 15-19, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Ages 11 to 15. $175. Try your hand at a sampling of traditional American crafts, including rug hooking, knitting, wool penny rugs, "candlewicking" embroidery (sample at right), more.

Eye Spy. July 29 through August 2, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Ages 7 to 11. $275. Become a naturalist for a week and immerse yourself in the 'Wilds of Waterford'.  Join us for a fun week, using your senses to experience hands-on science activities, nature games and hikes.

To register for these three classes contact Waterford resident Robin Meyers, founder and president of Navigate, rjmeyers@aol.com, 703.615.2439.

Then, from August 5 through 9 archaeologist Dr. David Clark offers to rising third through sixth graders an adventure: Detectives of the Past: Archaeology. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dr. Clark will guide campers in a hands-on exploration of how to conduct archaeology. Campers will explore archaeologists' tools, learn about mapping, identify skeletons, and much more. More information and registration forms are available on the Foundation's website.  

This is the first in a series highlighting Fair artisans' exploits throughout the year.

The Waterford Homes Tour & Crafts Exhibit has long been known for the superb quality of its artisans' works. Museum quality, in fact, is not at all an inflated description for the quality of many who demonstrate their heritage crafts in October each year.

Jeffrey Gale with visitors at the Waterford Fair. [photo by Ron Hall]

Jeffrey Gale is one. For 28 years he has shared his basketmaking skill at the Fair, fascinating visitors in the Bond Street Meadow with the process of shaving and pounding fresh wooden billets to make basket splints. On the first day of the 70th Waterford Fair this year, October 4, an exhibit opens at the Smithsonian's Renwick Museum that includes seven of his baskets.The exhibit continues through January 12, 2014. 

A Gale basket in the Renwick exhibit.

The exhibit, "A Measure of the Earth: The Cole-Ware Collection of American Baskets" comprises baskets made in the past 30 years. The 60 weavers represented craft their baskets almost entirely from un-dyed native materials, and demonstrate the endurance of African and European basket weaving traditions in the United States.

A basket from another long-time Fair demonstrator, Lisa Head, also is included in the Renwick exhibit.

The 70th Waterford Fair takes place October 4-6, 2013.  Visit the Foundation website frequently for updates and information (these pages grow as we approach the date).