This will be our first visit to NEFFA (in Natick, MA 4/25-27). We'll have a table there selling our violin cases, pernambuco & carbon fibre bows, some 5 string fiddles, some mandolins, strings, etc.
Has anyone else been to NEFFA (http://www.neffa.org)? What can we expect? Thanks a lot!
The NEFFA festival seems primarily to attract folk & contra dancers and curious locals. It features lots of participatory dance, a fair number of dance performances, including a lot of Morris & sword dance, and a scattering of both instrumental and vocal performances. It draws a crowd of several thousand, mostly from around Boston but with a fair smattering from the rest of New England and the mid-atlantic states.
There are certainly a lot of musicians around, and there are always a few jam sessions (and I use that term interntionally) in the hallways and, weather permitting, outdoors. Styles of music tend to the eclectic - lots of contra dance tunes, of course, but some of just about anything you could imagine. But I really don't know anybody who goes there primarily to play - unlike, say, the Dance Flurry in Saratoga, NY, which is outwardly similar. Probably the fact that NEFFA's is a dry venue accounts for this. Also, this year, the Comhaltas convention is in Boston the same weekend as NEFFA, so I would imagine this would divert many ITM players.
I have a couple friends who've had booths at NEFFA over the years. They seem to do a brisk business in what you'd call impulse purchases, but have a harder time selling the big -ticket items. But you never know - NEFFA seems the perfect place to sell a 5 string fiddle.
Awk! I was so busy preparing for NEFFA I didn't get a chance to check the discussion board here until now (April 29). Not that I could've added much to pm's reply, except to say that NEFFA can take some getting used to -- but, fortunately, once you do it's easy enough to enjoy.
I do think it's not too much to say that about 3/4 (maybe more) of the people who come to NEFFA -- as performers, or audience, or both -- know each other directly, or else by a few degrees of separation. It's kind of like a big -- really big -- party in which everyone's emerged from the winter hibernation and are ready to celebrate.
Of course, as you saw this past weekend, nature doesn't always cooperate in the celebration.
Well, my first weekend at NEFFA was interesting to say the least! Full of mostly highs, my wife and I really enjoyed ourselves talking to the folks, eating the yummy food and hanging out. We met some very interesting people, sold a whole heck of a lot of stuff (mostly MachOne shoulder rests and Glasser bows), sold a 5 string fiddle (yay!), got to jam with some great musicians...
We'd like to come back next year. I hope it works out for that.
NEFFA - anyone been there?
NEFFA - anyone been there?
This will be our first visit to NEFFA (in Natick, MA 4/25-27). We'll have a table there selling our violin cases, pernambuco & carbon fibre bows, some 5 string fiddles, some mandolins, strings, etc.
Has anyone else been to NEFFA (http://www.neffa.org)? What can we expect? Thanks a lot!
# Posted on April 24th 2003 by A.R. Sweet
Re: NEFFA - anyone been there?
The NEFFA festival seems primarily to attract folk & contra dancers and curious locals. It features lots of participatory dance, a fair number of dance performances, including a lot of Morris & sword dance, and a scattering of both instrumental and vocal performances. It draws a crowd of several thousand, mostly from around Boston but with a fair smattering from the rest of New England and the mid-atlantic states.
There are certainly a lot of musicians around, and there are always a few jam sessions (and I use that term interntionally) in the hallways and, weather permitting, outdoors. Styles of music tend to the eclectic - lots of contra dance tunes, of course, but some of just about anything you could imagine. But I really don't know anybody who goes there primarily to play - unlike, say, the Dance Flurry in Saratoga, NY, which is outwardly similar. Probably the fact that NEFFA's is a dry venue accounts for this. Also, this year, the Comhaltas convention is in Boston the same weekend as NEFFA, so I would imagine this would divert many ITM players.
I have a couple friends who've had booths at NEFFA over the years. They seem to do a brisk business in what you'd call impulse purchases, but have a harder time selling the big -ticket items. But you never know - NEFFA seems the perfect place to sell a 5 string fiddle.
# Posted on April 24th 2003 by pm
Re: NEFFA - anyone been there?
Thank you for your excellent comments! Very helpful...
# Posted on April 25th 2003 by A.R. Sweet
Re: NEFFA - anyone been there?
Awk! I was so busy preparing for NEFFA I didn't get a chance to check the discussion board here until now (April 29). Not that I could've added much to pm's reply, except to say that NEFFA can take some getting used to -- but, fortunately, once you do it's easy enough to enjoy.
I do think it's not too much to say that about 3/4 (maybe more) of the people who come to NEFFA -- as performers, or audience, or both -- know each other directly, or else by a few degrees of separation. It's kind of like a big -- really big -- party in which everyone's emerged from the winter hibernation and are ready to celebrate.
Of course, as you saw this past weekend, nature doesn't always cooperate in the celebration.
Anyway, hope you all had a good time...
# Posted on April 29th 2003 by sts
Re: NEFFA - anyone been there? (MY REPORT)
Greetings, hello, how are you?
Well, my first weekend at NEFFA was interesting to say the least! Full of mostly highs, my wife and I really enjoyed ourselves talking to the folks, eating the yummy food and hanging out. We met some very interesting people, sold a whole heck of a lot of stuff (mostly MachOne shoulder rests and Glasser bows), sold a 5 string fiddle (yay!), got to jam with some great musicians...
We'd like to come back next year. I hope it works out for that.
# Posted on April 29th 2003 by A.R. Sweet