As far as musical milestones go, 1986 was full of them.
It’s the year the Beastie Boys put out their debut LP, “Licensed to Ill,” the first rap release to top the Billboard album chart.
Eighties babies also saw Elvis Presley, James Brown, Ray Charles and Buddy Holly, among others, honored as some of the earliest inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In Tucson, a new large-scale event celebrating all things acoustic — the Tucson Folk Festival — launched downtown.
The fest, which celebrates its 30th year this weekend, emerged from humble beginnings.
A group of musicians and like-minded fans of folk, names that included Earl Edmonson, Gerry Glombecki, Ken Tucker and Linda Lou Reed, worked as the Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association to make the event happen.
In its first year, the concert was held on two stages downtown and featured more than 60 local and regional acts playing 25 minutes apiece.
Admission that first year was free — and it has remained so ever since.
Kitchen Musicians board member Jim Lipson, then a cub reporter for the Tucson Weekly, covered the inaugural event.
It wasn’t well attended, especially during the day, Lipson said, but you couldn’t beat the music.
He remembers seeing longtime local player Kathleen Williamson do her thing, and the percussion ensemble Drumsong.
“It felt like a real community, grassroots effort,” Lipson said. “It was exciting to see.”
Reed, Kitchen Musicians Association vice president and informal historian for the group, remembers the first folk festival as a successful venture.
As someone involved with every folk fest since its inception, she saw it as a step in the right direction, even if it didn’t bring out the crowds.
That first gathering of musicians gave birth to a tradition that would evolve and grow, bringing artists to Tucson such as Odetta, Chris Smither, Richie Havens and the Austin Lounge Lizards in the years that followed.
“Everybody who wanted to play, got to play,” Reed said of the first festival. “Not a lot of people knew about it. It was word of mouth that brought people out. We didn’t have a program that first year. We didn’t have a lot of things.”
Those small beginnings are a far cry from what organizers are expecting for this weekend’s folk festival, which starts with a fundraiser Friday night at La Cocina downtown and runs, free of charge, all Saturday and Sunday.
Thousands are expected to attend what has become an early kickoff to summer, with more than 120 musical acts slated to perform across five stages.
Artists run the gamut from Americana singer/songwriter Kevin Pakulis to the gypsy jazz ensemble, Hot Club of Tucson.
Headliners for 2015 include Texas performer Ray Wylie Hubbard playing the Plaza Stage in El Presidio Park on Saturday, local dynasty Ronstadt Generations, closing out Sunday and special guest Tom Chapin, who will be performing, serving as a judge in the songwriting competition and running at least one of the workshops.
The folk festival is a popular platform for local acts. More than 180 applied to be a part of this year’s activities.
“It is a whole big process involved in choosing who will perform,” said Lipson, who heads the scheduling committee. “It is a giant jigsaw puzzle that you have to complete before the show begins.”
The musicians and concertgoers receive support from the small army of more than 300 volunteers, who operate the drink and music booths, manage the stages and even dump the trash.
The amount of free labor helps to keep the costs down. The Folk Fest runs about $50,000 annually, which is raised primarily through sponsors and fundraising concerts held throughout the year.
“We have volunteers who come out year after year,” TKMA president Greg Rogan said. “It is amazing how much work they put in.”
Rogan, who spends his days running his pharmacy, The Medicine Shoppe, refers to himself as the chief cat herder at the fest.
It is Rogan’s responsibility to “put out the fires,” he explains.
Stress levels can get high, but Rogan finds his job worth the rise in blood pressure.
“I want to see the festival go for as long as it can,” he said. “We’ve been bringing great music to this town for 30 years. I don’t see why we can’t bring music for another 30.”
Ray Wylie Hubbard has plenty to promote when he performs as the Tucson Folk Festival’s headl…
