During the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair local folk singers would gather every Sunday afternoon in front of the UN Pavilion in the Seattle Center and sing. It was a spontaneous gathering of folk singers and a forerunner of the Northwest Folklife Festival, which began about ten years later in the Seattle Center. A live LP recording was made of some of these singers – the tracks can be heard below.
“Those UN Pavilion concerts were amazing. Outdoors every Sunday afternoon, and they sometimes went on for three or four hours. Lots of good singers. Lots of audience. And a lot of singing jobs spun off from those, too. One great one was when Nancy, Stan, and I got tapped to do a concert at the Port Townsend Arts Festival by someone who heard us at the UN Pavilion. Treated us like royalty!” Don Firth
“We sure had some great fun at the Seattle Worlds Fair, didn’t we Don? Every Sunday was folksinging at the United Nations Pavilion. There were many concerts. I sang before the largest audience I’d ever seen, 6,000 people. It was an awesome experience. Many top performers were brought to seattle during that six months: Theo Bikell, Joan Baez, on and on.” Bob Nelson
FOLK SONGS OF THE WORLD – From the UN Pavilion, Seattle World’s Fair, 1962
1. Introduction – John Hampshire
2. Nava Nagla – Lee Traveler, Bill Gunther
3. Hammer Song – Caryl Deanne
4. Frog Song – Mike Lieb
5. Harry Herman – Judy Flenniken
6. Grand Coulee Dam – Bob Nelson
7. Taylor and the Mouse – Nancy Quense
8. Mermaid and the Skindiver – Stan James
9. Swapping Song/Aunt Clara/Mule in the Mines/ Why Do Scotsmen Leave the Country – Don Firth
10. The Fox – Caryl Deanne
11. Foggy Dew – Bob Nelson
12. Green Grass Grows All Around – Freya Lynn
13. Klondike – Stan James
14. She Moved Through The Fair – Mike Lee
15. Oh Mary Don’t You Weep – Lee Traveler
16. Busha Bum – Jim Wilhem
17. This Land Is Your Land – Everyone