Photo: The Rain Dogs on stage at UAS Folk Fest (Credit: @northernstatemedia on Instagram)

By Bridget Monks, Manager, SE&L

UAS hosted its first Folk Fest on Saturday, April 5th as a prelude to the Alaska Folk
Festival’s 50th year celebration.

Open to the community and all ages, more than 250 people attended the free event that
hosted over 10 booths and had six different musical/artistic acts.
The show began with a dance lesson taught by Professor Mark Hopson, followed by
Bob Banghart’s local jazz group, the Hot Club of Juneau. It was an honor to have Bob
and his group on the UAS stage, as they have performed in all 50 years of the Alaska
Folk Festival.

Alumni group Slept In also took the stage and wowed the audience with their incredible
duo act. June Bunch, flown in from Florida thanks to the Alaska Airlines Student
Concert Series, performed her original music while playing the ukulele like an angel with
a harp. UAS student band Rice Fields jammed their funk-a-delic covers of beloved
songs as a wonderful opener for Juneau’s beloved, the one and the only, The Rain
Dogs! The night closed out with the beautiful harmonies of Big Sissy, all the way from
New York City, also in partnership with the Alaska Airlines Student Concert Series. Big
Sissy took the Alaska Folk Festival by storm, later partnering with Dude Mtn and other
local artists for smaller shows around downtown.

Families, students, and everyone in between are already in anticipation of the second
annual UAS Folk Fest. Thank you to the Student Activities Board for its hard work on the first!