page_title: Woody Guthrie Folk Festival
section_title: Foundation laid
hierarchical_section_title: Woody Guthrie Folk Festival / Foundation laid
caption_attribution_description: English: Larry Long with the assistance of middle school principal Larry McKinney and school board president Mark Smyth organized the first hometown tribute to Woody Guthrie at the Crystal Theatre on December 1,1988. Students from Okemah, Langston, and Davenport, Oklahoma performed songs they had written with Long's help. Selections from Woody’s writings were narrated by Okemah 7thgrader Jerry Baker and translated into the Seminole and Creek languages by First Nation Elder Woodrow ‘Wotko’ Haney. Besides Long other featured artists included Fiddlin’ Pete Watercott from California and the following beloved Oklahoma musicians: banjo virtuoso Alan Munde; gospel pianist Shirley Davis; and Okemah's own Reverend Olen Edwards on vocals and harmonica.
context_page_description: The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival is held annually in mid-July to commemorate the life and music of Woody Guthrie. The festival is held on the weekend closest to July 14 - the date of Guthrie's birth - in Guthrie's hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma. Daytime main stage performances are held indoors at the Brick Street Cafe and the Crystal Theatre. Evening main stage performances are held outdoors at the Pastures of Plenty. The festival is planned and implemented annually by the Woody Guthrie Coalition, a non-profit corporation, whose goal is simply to ensure Guthrie's musical legacy.
  The event is made possible in part from a grant from the Oklahoma Arts Council. Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon, Woody Guthrie's younger sister, is the festival's perennial guest of honor.
  The festival, which over the years has morphed into being called "WoodyFest" by attendees, was founded in 1998 and the inaugural festival included performances by Guthrie's son Arlo Guthrie, British folk-punk-rock artist Billy Bragg, Ellis Paul, Jimmy LaFave, Joel Rafael, and The Red Dirt Rangers.
context_section_description: In the early 1960s, Woody Guthrie was living on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island, New York.  Although Bob Dylan made a pilgrimage to visit Guthrie, who was physically deteriorating due to a neurological disorder called Huntington's Disease, the town of Okemah had no interest in remembering its native son. Okemah residents regarded Guthrie with some suspicion and some believed he was a Communist based on his "Woody Sez" column published in a Communist paper The People's World.  In addition, Guthrie sang out his beliefs at labor union rallies - sometimes with other outspoken artists such as Pete Seeger and Cisco Houston. As late as 1971, the Okemah City Council refused to proclaim Woody Guthrie Day due to his radical politics. By the 1970s, although most young people in Okemah had never heard of Guthrie, Guthrie-followers began making pilgrimages to Okemah to visit the house where Guthrie lived.  Guthrie's son Arlo - a well-known folksinger himself by the 70s - also made occasional trips to Okemah "to feel the situation out."  
  Twenty years after Woody Guthrie died and approximately ten years before the first festival, Minnesota musician Larry Long decided to continue in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie and become a traveling troubadour. With a grant from the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the Oklahoma Arts Council, Long moved to Okemah and began working with Okemah school students in the Oakes Elementary School and in the Okemah Middle School where he became an artist-in-residence. Over several years Long managed to garner support from local residents to have the students participate in a Woody Guthrie tribute concert. 
  Some residents of Okemah were strongly opposed to having any kind of tribute to Guthrie and did not think Woody Guthrie deserved any kind of recognition. Several letters to the editor were published in the Okemah News Leader giving voice to this opposition.  At the same time, those who supported Long's work also wrote letters to the editor. Support came not only from local residents, but also from others across the country including Pete Seeger and Harold Leventhal.
  Long stated: "Woody Guthrie changed my life when I was a kid and he's very important to me. I'm absolutely in his tradition. When I was 18 I decided I was going to travel the world and be like Woody Guthrie. Woody was a folklore hero and it would be good for main street (Okemah) if he was celebrated here."
  With the assistance of middle school principal Larry McKinney and school board president Mark Smyth, who also owned Okemah's Crystal Theatre, the first tribute to Woody Guthrie took place on December 1, 1988. Students from Okemah, Langston, and Davenport, Oklahoma performed songs they had written with Long's help. Selections from Woody's writings were narrated by Okemah 7th grader Jerry Baker and translated into the Seminole and Creek languages by First Nation Elder Woodrow ‘Wotko’ Haney.  Besides Long other featured artists included Larry's long-time musical companion Fiddlin’ Pete Watercott from California and the following beloved Oklahoma musicians: banjo virtuoso Alan Munde; gospel pianist Shirley Davis; and Okemah's own Reverend Olen Edwards on vocals and harmonica.      McKinney said the artist-in-resident program was a "good learning experience for his seventh grade students". Long stated that the lyrics for the songs “came from students interviewing their parents, grandparents and each other. So when it came time to hold a big community celebration for Woody, it was no longer just Woody we were celebrating, but the entire community of Okemah and Oklahoma.” Woody's sister, Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon, attended the concert and later said: "I felt the warmth of my family all around me. Clara, Roy, Woody, George, Papa and Mama. They, too, all sat here in this very theatre many years ago. When the children came marching down the aisle and on the stage I swelled with pride and the tears came. I knew Woody was watching.”
  NBC's Today Show sent correspondent Lucky Severson to Okemah to cover the event. Local residents both for and against 
caption: Jerry Baker and students from Okemah, Oklahoma. Dec. 1, 1988.
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