Northwest Folklife

 

Around 1987, then-Northwest Folklife Executive Director Scott Nagel asked a number of Festival enthusiasts who danced contras and squares to figure out how to improve the dance floor—which was a concrete pad—in the old Flag Pavilion West ("The Roadhouse"). The design adopted was suggested by John Vadino of The Production Network and was a modification of temporary dance floors used by summer dance institutes for modern dance companies. An ad hoc committee raised more than $5,000 from the greater Northwest dance communities by selling 4' x 8' dance floor panels for a $25 donation. The 'buyer' could put a 40-letter dedication on the panel. From that original ad hoc committee a Folkfloor Committee arose after the first year, and that relatively stable group of seven members has taken responsibility for the production of the FolkFloor at each Northwest Folklife Festival ever since. The Committee members install the FolkFloor in The Roadhouse on the Thursday before the Festival, then take it up again on Monday evening after the dancing has ceased. During the year it lives in a garage in Redmond. (Eileen O'Connor, FolkFloor Committee Community Coordinator)