Re: [Callers] Contra / MWSD parallels?

As Program Chair and Board Member of NEFFA for the last 12 years, I can attest to the fact that during this time, the NEFFA Board never intentionally planned the Festival to conflict with NESRDC. NEFFA has been held in April for decades, and our major reason for choosing the weekend which follows Patriot's Day (in Massachusetts) is because this week is a school vacation week. As a result, we can get into the school much more easily in order to do advance work for the Festival (hanging speakers, etc.). Occasionally, we will vary our dates, but only to avoid major religious holiday conflicts. Also, in all of this time, I have never heard feed-back, or seen an evaluation which suggested that we should change NEFFA dates based on the timing of the NESRDC. NEFFA is celebrating its 68th year; NESRDC its 54th. I checked the NESRDC website, and this Festival is actually the weekend after NEFFA (NEFFA is 3rd weekend, NESRDC is last weekend in April). While it might be challenging for performers and attendees to attend both, it is possible for this to happen. And for those who attend both: kudos!! Although I have no personal knowledge of the planning process on the part of NESRDC, what I do know of the folk song & dance community in general, and the thousands of volunteers who help make all Festivals happen, is that we *all* do it for the love of the art forms, and the intentions are always good ones. We want to share the experience and joy with as many folks as possible. From my point of view, any conflict in timing would be purely unintentional, and based on logical reasons that may not be obvious to those who are not involved with the many details of planning. So, let me add my voice to those who have encouraged us to "be kind to one another". warmly, Linda Leslie On Mar 19, 2012, at 3:32 PM, Charles Hannum wrote: