'I love the love': 50 years of Regina Folk Festival through a volunteer's eyes

When Linda McKenzie volunteered for her first Regina Folk Festival in the 1970s, it bore a different name and a much different location. For the Folk Guild, musicians would take to a small stage, like a coffee house.

"It didn't hold a lot of people but we would serve coffee and tea," she said.

"I just remember a shy, sweet, young teenager — Jack Semple — playing classical guitar and just being amazed by his talent. It was just a memory I'd never forget." 

As McKenzie gears up for the 50th iteration of the Folk Festival, which kicks off this Friday, she will be one of the longest serving volunteers. 

"I love the friendship. I love the love. I love the kindness and just the whole atmosphere," she said. "No matter what kind of problems we might bring, they just all go away because of so much kindness, and talent and music."

McKenzie has seen the Folk Festival grow from that small cafe to an event that takes over downtown's Victoria Park for three days.

"I've seen a lot of changes and really good changes," she said. "It used to be unplugged and folk strictly and then it's evolved to world music and people from all over the world — just a whole variety of people."

Highlights for McKenzie range from seeing Buffy Saint-Marie to Serena Ryder to Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. She recalls listening to Spirit of the West, "feeling the earth beneath my feet — just that feeling of freedom, and the beauty of the music."

Meeting and greeting new people at the gate is her favourite part, but she's had just about every role possible at the festival. 

"Linda McKenzie, we call her 'Office mom,'" said Sandra Butel, the festival's artistic director and CEO. "So we've given her a job where she comes in and she gives us head massages and tells us she loves us and gives us that energy because that's what Linda is so good at."

Butel called McKenzie "that positive force who's dancing in front of the stage with a big smile. She embodies what the festival spirit is."

Now at the age of 72, McKenzie laughingly expresses her surprise that she's not referred to as "Staff Grandma."  

"I just was quite honoured that they didn't put me out to pasture. I just am so honoured by their kindness."

I'm just grateful to be alive and to be able to enjoy my life. And music is a big part of it and this Folk Festival is a big part of it, too.- Linda McKenzie, longtime volunteer

Butel first started as a volunteer in 1999. She didn't see herself staying 20 years, but it feels good, she said. She has been focusing for years on empowering women, people of colour and people in the LGBTQ community. 

"It's why we exist," Butel said. "It's really important for us as a festival."

The festival has had around 12,000 volunteers over 50 years, Butel said, and the volunteers are all just like family. 

"It's been a really humbling exercise to realize that people want you to ask them to help," she said. "I think it's a lesson for all of us in our lives that people really feel honoured when you ask."

McKenzie isn't planning on stopping her volunteer efforts any time soon. For the 50th anniversary, McKenzie plans to greet new people, say hello to folks she's seen in the past and soak in all the music and sunshine. 

"I will just bop 'till I drop," she said. "I still can dance; I can still walk. I'm just grateful to be alive and to be able to enjoy my life. And music is a big part of it and this Folk Festival is a big part of it, too."