'A special shop': Halifax Folklore Centre celebrates 50 years as music hub

A Halifax institution treasured by local students, musicians and visiting movie stars alike just hit a milestone.

Nestled inside an ivy-covered Victorian house, the Halifax Folklore Centre's Tom and Marla Dorward have been quietly buying, selling, rehabilitating and building stringed instruments for 50 years.

The pandemic isn't the first hard time or recession to hit the business in its 50 years.

"But we always seem to come out the other end and people always seem to play more music the rougher things get," said Marla Dorward.

Banjos have been particularly popular amid COVID-19.

Folklore Centre regulars include a who's who of East Coast musicians, including Joe Murphy, Garrett Mason, Joel Plaskett and Old Man Luedecke.

PEI singer-songwriter Catherine MacLellan said it's one of her first stops on every trip to Halifax. She remembers the first time she visited the centre as a university student, nervous, and just starting to write songs on her first guitar.

"I went in and I immediately felt like, 'Oh, these are my people,'" she said. "It's just such a welcoming space."

The centre first opened in 1971 on Spring Garden Road where Tom intended to build and sell Appalachian-style dulcimers. But the centre quickly took on a life of its own.

Two years later, they moved into the 150-year-old Jakeman Residence on Brunswick Street.

Marla had been studying ceramics at NSCAD, but left school to manage buying and selling the other stringed instruments their customers were looking for. Tom started repairing family heirlooms rescued from attics and guitars with their frets worn off by professional musicians.

They brought in records, books and sheet music that customers were having trouble finding, and started offering lessons upstairs.

At their busiest, they had 13 teachers and hundreds of students a week climbing the stairs for guitar, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer and other lessons. But they moved away from that so Tom could focus on the workshop and building and repairing instruments — his true passion.

One of their early regulars, Tom said, was local musician Bill Plaskett, and Bill's son, Joel, was one of those young students. Dorward expects they'll be setting Joel's kids up with instruments of their own soon enough.

"One of the highlights of being in business for 50 years is that I'm now into my third generation of people," said Dorward.

Joel Plaskett remembers buying his first guitar from the Centre at age 13. He continued dropping in as a teen playing with his rock band Thrush Hermit to pick up strings and gear. But, he said, it wasn't until after his electric guitar phase that he really came to appreciate what the Dorwards offered.

"I would go in there and admire all the vintage instruments," he said. "There's a lot of really unique things in the whole collection, and that's what makes it a special shop."

Plaskett said his three favourite instruments are all Folklore Centre purchases, and that he realizes he has to credit the Centre with the sound of several of his songs, such as the jangly 12-string guitar sound on Face of the Earth.

The variety and quality of the instruments, and the knowledge and skill of the owners and staff, Plaskett says, have given the shop a national following. Even A-list movie stars like Pierce Brosnan, Jessica Lange, Joseph Fiennes and Helen Mirren, drop in when they're in town.

The big anniversary arrived while the city was still in lockdown, but Tom and Marla Dorward have decided to take the whole year to celebrate. They've printed some new T-shirts and tote bags and just look forward to seeing all the familiar faces again.

As for the future of the Folklore Centre? They plan to keep doing what they've been doing for half a century now.

"That's what we love to do," Tom said, "We love to take old things that are just of no use and turn it into a beautiful instrument."

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