The Last Night!

The final night of Folklorama is always bittersweet, on one hand it's finally done, the volunteers that have been here all week can now get on with their lives. Some people revolve their holiday time around Folklorama week while others work 8 hours at their paid job and 5 hours free at the Pavilion. I like to think of the last three days as the home-stretch, usually the most profitable for food, bar and attendance, but also the stage show is running smoothly without worry of any problems or glitches...well, almost.

Again, like the previous night during the dance (Kaede), the music cut out for a couple of seconds (Ha! I wasn't doing the sound), this time the music stopped and when it returned it continued from where it stopped, so it kind of screwed up the dancers. For some reason which we'll have to analyze, the attendance was the third lowest of the week. This is odd because the previous three years the attendance ranked 1st or 2nd for the week, by comparison there was at least 400-500 less people this Saturday than the last three. The same can be said for the bar and food sales which also ranked Saturday as it's third lowest for sales. I'll try to answer or at least theorize why the results were so disappointing this year in the "review" later this week, your opinions and input would be greatly appreciated.

Final Night Ramblings:
-We had duo-rookie emcee's tonight, Stacey Matsumoto hosted the first and second shows, while Jesse Miki did the third. I was more than pleased by both of their MC skills and this could be a preview of some of our new hosts for next year. Stacey seemed like a seasoned pro who was at ease with the microphone and was unfazed by the tongue-twister text written by Hinode Taiko. I really like Stacey's mannerisms and how she throws in a little extra tidbits. Jesse claims to be able to "wing it" and his improv skills definitely come in handy doing this kind of job, but the real skill he possesses is charm and charisma. He brings a much needed enthusiasm to the show and keeping the crowd attentive is his forte.

-I Noticed that Shig didn't perform the Taiko piece (the second song in their set) where he solos on the wood block, for the final show of the week. It was really too bad because I heard this was probably his last Folklorama...what! Shig retiring from Hinode? (Sumi, is this true?)

-Behind the scenes, food was being prepared for the after-Folklorama volunteer party. I heard a rumour that next year they might throw a party (social-style) a week or two later so everyone that volunteered can share in the fun, instead of just the people that volunteered Saturday. Might be a good idea, but do I want to think about Folklorama still in late August?

-Between the 2nd and 3rd shows, Sumi showed me how to cut a cake. Yeah, I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but it requires some skill and expertise...coool. It would be the equivalent of me showing her how to cut a double mat for picture framing, something that requires some talent, but for me is a piece of cake.

-Shayna was flawless again and Carol got her flowers.

Sorry for the slow post, I got home super late after the volunteer party on Saturday and I wasn't in the mood to think about Folklorama on Sunday. For the next post I'll include some pictures of the volunteer party and stay tuned for the "wrap-up" blog post for the week at a glance review...exciting isn't it?