SLIDESHOW: Folk Festival day 3

There was a single ongoing conversation at the Richmond Folk Festival, a way of passing information from one visitor to another to another.

"Whom have you seen that you liked?" "Did you see those Japanese drums?" "I hear the Colombian band Grupo Cimarr?n is crazy awesome."

The Richmond Folk Festival concluded its inaugural edition yesterday, a three-day celebration of musical styles from around the world, crafts and food. An offshoot of the National Folk Festival, which was in Richmond for the past three years before moving on to Butte, Mont., the local festival was by all accounts a success.

According to Lisa Sims, director of events for Venture Richmond, an estimated 185,000 people came to the three-day event, beating last year's record attendance by 10,000. And this time, she said, the crowds were more diverse than before as word has spread about the festival.

Part of the reason for the success was the perfect weather, she said -- sunny, warm days and nights that did not get cool. In addition, she believes that the people who came stayed longer this year than before.

Festivalgoer Kent Kannegieter said, "This is a remarkable event, and I hope they can keep it up each year. It's great for Richmond, it showcases the city and it's a fantastic event. It brings so much of Richmond together -- black, white, Hispanic -- all of that. And everyone gets to enjoy each other's culture."

Kannegieter was particularly taken by the Countryside Songs Session on Saturday, in which performers from different traditions got together to jam.

"That was so cool to see those guys interplaying and picking up ideas and styles from each other," he said.

His was a sentiment shared by Mark Rubin, the tuba player for the Texas Czech polka band Mark Halata and Texavia. The band typically plays at dance halls and church picnics throughout a relatively small region in Texas. Diverse festivals such as this one -- and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which they played on July 4 -- give them the chance to be exposed to kinds of music they might never otherwise hear.

The musical selections this year ranged from the Japanese drumming of San Jose Taiko to the Inuit throat singing of Nukariik, from the Eastern European sounds of Harmonia to the honky-tonk country sound of Dale Watson.

Christie O'Leary, who was enjoying her third festival, said she came because the music offered "a lot of international variety."

"You can't see it anywhere else, and it's right here," she said.

If CD sales are any indication, some of the most popular groups were the father and son thumb-picked guitar duo Eddie and Alonzo Pennington, African guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, bluegrass specialists The Dan Tyminski Band and go-go band E.U., said Laura O'Neill, marketing director for Plan 9 Music, which handled the sales.

One band that did not bring its CDs, and would have done well if it had, was gospel band Larry Bland and the Volunteer Choir, which electrified the crowd. It was the only Richmond-based band at the festival.

The group's drummer, Ronnie Cokes, said, "We're the only Richmond act, and we're singing gospel, so it's good to inspire people."

Also hoping to inspire people was a man who goes by the name Carpenter Bill -- that's what it says on his business card. A master carpenter by trade, Bill came to the festival to discuss his faith with anyone who cared to ask him.

"When there's a crowd, I have to take the opportunity to talk about my Lord and savior," he said. "This gives people the opportunity to change lives, so it's very important."

. . .

Scott Ellett could not get away to the festival until midafternoon yesterday, but he kept up by listening to the live broadcast on WCVE -- "it makes you feel better about missing it," he said.

This is the second year he came with his 11-year-old daughter Sallie, who had to finish her homework before they could go.

"Last year, I had a very good time," she said. "And I think I'm able to appreciate the music more this year."

. . .

Ralph White, manager of the James River Park System, stood under a tent in the Genworth Foundation Family Area yesterday with a small crowd gathered around him.

His popularity made perfect sense: He was holding a box turtle. More specifically, he was showing 11-year-old Autumn Branch how to properly hold the turtle.

The turtle was fine, Autumn said, but the corn snake she got to hold a few minutes earlier was even better.

"I'm a fan of snakes," explained Autumn, a fifth-grader at Ruby Carver Elementary in Henrico County. "I think they are cool and scaly. I would love to scare my dad with one."

Her dad, Chris Branch, groaned.

. . .

Hands-on critter education was also the order of the day at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation exhibit. Kids could study eels and dragonfly nymphs up-close and personal, learn about the importance of water quality and even hold a blue crab -- without fear of being pinched. All of the crabs had rubber bands around their claws.

"I like crabs!" said 5-year-old Lilith Sanders of Chesterfield County, wearing a stylish brown paper bag hat she had decorated at a nearby art table, as she petted the crab and finally summoned the courage to hold it in her hand.

All the animals had been pulled from the James River, and all of them were going back to the water last night, said Gwen Pearson of the Virginia Education Program for the bay foundation.

"They've had a hard two days," Pearson said.

. . .

In its first year as the Richmond Folk Festival, the event attracted lots of people who did not attend when it was the National Folk Festival during its three-year run.

Corey Sanders of Chesterfield, making his first visit, said it took a few years for people to understand what the festival was about.

"People hear 'folk festival' and think it's a guy with an acoustic guitar," he said with a laugh. "Just takes a while for the word to get around."

His friend, Beth Allums of Richmond, was impressed with the variety of activities available in the family area.

"It's so nice to have a kids area that doesn't have a 'bouncing thing,'" she said, noting how those inflatable attractions tend to define many children's events. Here, she said, kids could do arts and crafts, pet animals and actually learn something.

Her 5-year-old son Andy seemed thrilled with the myriad choices. "He hasn't stopped running since he got here," she said.

. . .

Under a shade tree in the family area, volunteers from the Richmond Quilters Guild toiled at hand-crank sewing machines, helping children make rice bags -- bean bags made with rice instead. The kids decorated fabric squares with crayons and stencils, filled them with rice and then cranked the sewing machines while the quilters stitched them shut.

It was a popular attraction. The quilters went through 50 pounds of rice Saturday and at least 35 pounds yesterday, said Cathy Tyler, a volunteer.

"People have been so supportive and patient," she said, working at a 1912 Singer sewing machine.

One of her customers was 3-year-old Makayla Robinson, who sat in Tyler's lap while Makayla's mom, LaToya Perkins of Chesterfield, turned the machine's crank.

"They've really enjoyed it," Perkins said of her children's first trip to the festival. "They've done a lot today."

. . .

For the second consecutive year, the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar waived its admission fee and invited in festivalgoers for a free look. The center, celebrating its second anniversary, welcomed 2,800 visitors Saturday, and an additional 400 had come in by midafternoon yesterday, said Christy Coleman, president of the center.

"It's a good way for us to introduce what we have . . . and that's a very good thing," said Coleman, who was greeting visitors as they arrived.

. . .

A big crowd flocked to hear Dean Shostak play his glass harmonica, an instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin. The glass harmonica is a series of glass bowls on a metal spindle that Shostak rotates with a foot-powered spinning wheel. He moistens his fingers and presses them against the rims of the spinning bowls to produce an angelic, bell-like sound. The instrument requires a light touch and "really clean hands," Shostak said.

Among the selections, he played "Greensleeves," "Amazing Grace" and "Jingle Bells."

Despite its beautiful sound, the glass harmonica "came and went" in terms of popularity, Shostak said. Probably because it's made of glass.

"It's a very, very fragile instrument," he said.