Maria Canton
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 21/99) - Some 90 performers gathered in Yellowknife last weekend to sing, dance and create the celebrations that are Folk on the Rocks.

Blazing sunshine on the beaches of Long Lake lured thousands of festival-goers through the main gates from Saturday morning until late Sunday evening.

"The weekend went off without a hitch," said festival director Jodi Woollam.

"Last week we started pulling all of the different areas together to create the diversity of the festival, the big picture that everyone sees."

The party started Friday night with the Warm the Rocks dance at the Explorer Hotel.

And by Saturday and Sunday, an eclectic mix of musical acts from African and reggae, celtic, fiddling, rock and swing played simultaneously during the afternoons on five different stages around the site.

At 4 p.m. each day the main stage took over, drawing groups of people with blankets and bags to stakeout their sand for the next seven hours of live entertainment.

Just back from the main stage area, the constant whir of generators fused with the smells of corn dogs, samosas, french fries, chicken and caribou smokies to produce a tree-lined alley of concession trailers.

"Everything was excellent," said the owner of the Office restaurant, Sato Chankasingh.

"We more than doubled our sales from last year."

In his third year vending at the site, Chankasingh estimates they made more than 5,000 sales of festival food.

Away from the concessions, the arts and crafts area was a tent village of music, incense and wares attracting interested and curious buyers.

Woollam and assistant festival director, Nadira Begg, say they wonąt have an exact tally of how many people took in the three-day affair until later in the month.

"Nadira and I will spend the next month cleaning and tidying up everything from the site, to paperwork, paying the bills, returning donated equipment," said Woollam.

"All of the volunteers, sponsors and organizations in Yellowknife came together to produce an outstanding and overwhelming weekend."

This is the second year that Woollam and Begg have been the organizing team.