History of Charleston Folk

We are in the process of gathering information about our history.  If you have information, images, or anything 
else relevant that you would like to share, please contact charlestonfolkcontraclub@gmail.com .
Fact Sheet:
  • Charleston Folk was formed in 1978 out of the Chanticleer coffeehouse at Gage Hall at the Unitarian Church as a concert-producing organization.
  • Edmund Robinson was the first president of Charleston Folk and stayed with the organization until he moved to Cambridge, MA in 1995 to attend Harvard Divinity School.
  • For the first Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston (1978), Charleston Folk collaborated with the Office of Cultural Affairs to produce five concerts in the food court near Tommy Condon’s.
  • CF became a non-profit in 1982 and produced the first concert outside of Spoleto that year, using the Footlight Players workshop as a principal venue.
  • Laura Katz was the artistic director (from the Cultural Affairs Office), with a modest compensation throughout the 1980s.
  • Throughout the ‘80s, CF produced between five and nine concerts per academic year, bringing in big-name folk groups such as The Chieftains.
  • Around 1987 they outgrew the Footlight Players workshop and moved into the Garden Theater (now Urban Outfitters) on King Street.
  • Hurricane Hugo struck in September 1989 and damaged the Garden Theater, so concerts were held in many different venues, leading to an attendance drop-off.
  • Contra dances started to take off after Hugo, and by the time Robinson left the organization, this was CF's sole mission.
  • These dances were hosted primarily in Gage Hall, at the Unitarian Church on Archdale Street, throughout the 1990s.
  • Palmetto Bug Stomp, our mostly-annual dance weekend, was originally hosted at The Citadel.
  • CF moved to the Ballroom Dance Club (West Ashley) until 2008 when we began dancing at the Felix Davis Community Center in Park Circle, North Charleston.

Charleston Folk Fact Sheet.pdf
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Picture
photo credit: David John Frantz
Picture
photo credit: David John Frantz