It was great to see how far everyone has come since December: in being comfortable on the instrument, in enjoying the performance process, in yelling "hey!" extra loudly while dancing...what a wonderfully celebratory celebration!
There are more than 70 members of the all-volunteer Portland Megaband. Here they are playing for a contradance at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. You don't get to see a band like this everyday!
This is just one of many many types of music at this festival - the festival is "folk" in its broadest, widest, most culturally-diverse sense.