Folk Fest a sellout

Folk Fest a sellout

By Harmen Mitchell

News Arts Writer

Although Kevin Gilmartin of the Office of Major Events allows as how “there might be a few standing room tickets” left, as of Sunday afternoon, the ninth Ann Arbor Folk Festival, set for Saturday evening in Hill Auditorium, was completely sold out.

Schoolkids Records and Herb David Guitar Studio are both out of seats, The Ark has been out of the choice $30 Sponsor Seats for two weeks, and if there are any seats left at any Ticket World outlets, it would only be a handful of scattered singles.

Last year’s festival sold roughly 3,500 of Hill’s 4,169 seats, but the Major Events and The Ark, the sponsoring organizations, credit heavy early media coverage and the anticipation for the event with the early sellout. Add to this the solid draw of names like Arlo Guthrie, Greg Brown, the Chenille Sisters, Doc Watson and Rory Block, and it isn’t surprising that the festival sold 2,000 tickets the week they went on sale, and more than 100 a day thereafter.

The dark lining to this silver cloud, according to Linda Sigling of Major Events, “is that some of The Ark’s most faithful supporters, who were used to buying their tickets within the last week before the event, are unable to get seats.”

What’s next, Crisler Arena?