The Board of Directors has worked hard all year to keep the music happening. Iwould like to thank the Board members for their dedication, inspiration and good humor.The Board meets on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 7:30 PM (and the festivalcommittee meets at 6:30 on the same night, starting in March) at Sheridan’s Pub inSmyrna. This year we say "good-bye" to two great board members who have movedaway - Kae Mason and Kristen Hamilton. We also welcomed local music legendCrabmeat Thompson to the Board. We are pleased to have several members continuingin their service - John Kidd, Kelly Crumpley, Nancy McGee, Rob Fox, (Treasurer) andStorm Longhauser. We focus a great deal of our time, energy and other resources on the Delmarva FolkFestival, and this year the festival was brilliant. We started Friday night (October 1) withthe Folk Hero Competition finals, featuring contestants from the July and August CoffeeHouse open mic nights - Jamie Tindle, Brian Kendig, Lauren Ventura, Vin Fischer andSean Cheezum, along with vocal duo Amy & Kelly. Vin Fischer won the 2010 DelmarvaFolk Hero competition, and the competition was fierce. The Festival program continuedon Saturday, October 2, with Vin Fischer, Tad Jones and the Harbortown Band, BadWheel Jonny and the Broke Spokes, Crabmeat Thompson, regional artists Stony RunString Band and Emily Pinkerton, national artists Jeff Warner, Blue Moose and theUnbuttoned Zippers and Roosevelt Dime. The music and the weather, were just fine.Kae Mason did her usual stellar job as the Festival Chair, and her absence will be achallenge, especially for the new Festival Co-Chairs - Storm Longhauser and MaryZeller. Our other principle programmatic activity is the Coffee House program, and the 2010program was simply great, thanks not only to the musicians who played, but also to JohnKidd for handling the scheduling and artist relations and to the volunteers who staffedthe events, collecting money (Mary Zeller), baking cookies (Kelly Crumpley, ZekeZeller, Kristin Hamilton, Rob Fox) and operating the sound equipment (PaulGummerman and Dave Katulis). We featured these fine artists:January - Maestro Shafaatullah Khan

February - Chapel Street Junction, Tad Jones openingMarch - The Knights, Deloy Moore openingApril- Shawn Qaissaunee with Sharon Sable., Kyle Offidani openingJuly & August - Delmarva Folk Heroes contest v 4.1 & 4.2October - Cover Bridge, Keith Brodin opening, (on web radio, too)November - Chris English, Sandcreek opening

We continued our partnership with the Delaware Chapter of the Leukemia andLymphoma Society in presenting the Greg Shrader Singer-Songwriter Circle in May,featuring local artists Greg Shupe, Larissa Moore and Keith Brodin with host DeloyMoore. The Delaware Friends of Folk sponsors several other activities, including Pick-ins on the 2nd Saturday of each month (except December), noon - 3 pm, at the DoverNewsstand, the Maurice Shockley Scholarship Fund, First Fridays in Dover, theNewsletter, a Facebook page, and My Space page. We also continue to support the FoodBank and Delaware Charitable Music at every event.

Our organization is in sound financial shape, with a current balance of $5,324 as ofDecember 1, 2010, thanks to membership dues and financial support from the DelawareDivision of the Arts and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Fund Special Presenter Grant.

We have much planned for 2011 already, including these Coffee House Concerts:

January - Bruce AnthonyFebruary - David Jacobs-Strain with Bob BeachMarch - Stephan DiJosephApril - in negotiation for a show featuring Atzulit- Concert for Peace (Klezmer-Arabicmusic)

The 20th Annual Delmarva Folk Festival will take place October 7 & 8, 2011.

On a personal note, let me say that I am leaving the Board of Directors after a five-year run. It has been a great pleasure and privilege to work with the many current andformer members of the Board and the other volunteers. What the Delaware Friends ofFolk does is so important - we present real and meaningful music in settings appreciatedby musicians and listeners alike. Over the 20 year history of the organization we haveworked with music legends and beginners, in genres from blues to bluegrass to Cajun toCeltic to jazz to Indian to Afghani to African to old time to gospel to rock ‘n roll, toname a few. I am proud of the cultural contributions we have made, and I look forwardto the upcoming contributions. Thanks to everyone who has made the Delaware Friendsof Folk a great organization.

If you can attend this benefit to show support to the Field family,please do. Lenny Field is the brother of Lonny Field, who is ourhost for the Delmarva Folk Festival. It would be an understatementto say the past couple of months have been pretty rough for the Fieldfamily. And recovery is a long and difficult process. Knowing thatothers are there to express their support means a great deal in timeslike this. So if you can make it, stop out and show your support.

Pick Ins are held monthly on the the 2nd Saturday of the month atDover Newsstand from 12-2. All are welcome to come play, or justlisten in. Admission is free.

Next Pick In is Saturday, February 12

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Plans are under way for the 20th Annual Delmarva Folk Festival, which will be October 7th and 8th thisyear. Note our theme for the festival is “Among Friends” . We have a saying that there are nostrangers at our festival- just friends we haven't met. We will be celebrating that sentiment as we lookback over 19 years of sharing music and friendship.

Work has already begun on selecting and obtaining performers for this year's festival. As this is our20th festival, we are going to be a bit reflective this year- reaching back to some of our favoriteperformers over the past 20 years.

We've all had great memories at past festivals, and we are encouraging you to share your memorieswith us. We will have a facebook page for the festival where you can share your memories and tell uswhat you'd like to see at this year's festival. We want and need your input. And we'll be counting onyou to volunteer as we get closer to the event.

Our next Festival meeting will be Wednesday, March 2 at 6:30 PM at Sheridan's in Smyrna. Allmembers and friends are welcome to attend.

- Storm Longhauser, 2011 Delmarva Folk Festival Chair,

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