The New West
The West Old & New Page 20
It is a free event , in one of Montana ’ s most well known cities , Butte , Montana . Believe it or not this is the place where you will find an amazing combination of music such as : Western Swing , Chinese Jaw Harp , Blues , Traditional Tshimshian Dance , Cajun , Irish , Ethiopian Funk , Fado , Polka , Tibetan , Italian , Gospel , Bluegrass and Latin Dance , on the weekend of July 13th - 15th at the Montana Folk Festival . The Montana Folk Festival came about after the National Folk Festival that was presented in Butte from 2008 to 2010 . Butte rallied up to create an event over the three year period that has made a name for itself . The first National Folk Festival was held in St . Louis in 1934 , and it is the oldest , longest-running and most diverse festival of traditional arts in the nation . Championed in its early years by Eleanor Roosevelt , it was the first event of national stature to put the arts of many nations , races and languages into the same event on an equal footing . Montana had the honor of presenting the National during its 70th - 72nd presentations in Butte in partnership with the NCTA . Over the three years of the National ' s run in Montana , the festival infused $ 1.8 million into the trade area economy to pay for necessary products and services . Based on tourist surveys , the admission-free outdoor festival brought more than $ 20 million in new earnings for businesses in communities throughout the state in 2009 . The economic impact in the third year was about $ 31 million , with an estimated 165,000 visitors to the event . Current estimates of the economic impact is approximately $ 25 million a year .
When the National Folk Festival moved on , Montana organizers decided to apply what they had learned to carry the traditions forward with a new event that offers much more for years to come -- the Montana Folk Festival . See more at : http :// montanafolkfestival . com / pages / festival-info / event-history . php # sthash . scfPeQij . dpuf
Coming to the August edition of the West Old & New
In 1961 , Rulon Allred purchased a 640 acre ranch in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana for $ 42,500 dollars with the intent of locating a group of fundamentalist Mormons who had no affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , because of their belief in polygamy , incorporating the city of Pinesdale , Montana , located near Hamilton .
Morris Y Jessop was interviewed by Lee Nelson in 1975 . Nelson was publishing a pictorial magazine in the Bitterroot Valley at the time , and put two women and a man on the cover of his July issue and writing about polygamy in Montana .
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