Red Molly at Ridgefield Public Library, originally uploaded by Aldon.

Every year we go to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. We camp for several days and listen to folk music. It takes place in the summer, and it seems like inevitably there are rainstorms. After attending the festival for many years, the events all run together, but there are certain events that stand out.

For example, there was the year that I was going through my divorce. Mairead was probably about nine. She loved dancing at the dance tent. Generally speaking Falcon Ridge is a pretty friendly place and I felt comfortable letting her go off on her own to dance while Miranda and I went to listen to a set at the workshop stage.

During the set, came the announcement that every parent fears. Those fears are compounded if you are in the middle of divorce negotiations about who gets custody of the children in what circumstances. “Would the parents of Mairead Hynes, please report to the medical tent?”

Here, things become a little bit blurry. Did I take Miranda with me? Did I get her to stay with a friend while I ran to the tent? I don’t recall that detail, but Miranda might. What I do remember is that Mairead had been dancing barefoot on the raw plywood floors of the dance stage, and had gotten a horrible sliver. They were working on ways of getting the sliver out. They wanted to use a local anesthetic to numb her foot and they needed my permission. They also hoped that I might be able to calm her down.

In the end, there was a nurse that had a pet ferret or two, again the details are a bit blurry at this point. The ferrets kept Mairead occupied as the medical staff managed to get the sliver out. Later, we ended up getting ferrets as pets.

This has almost nothing to do with Red Molly, and just about everything to do with Red Molly. You see, Red Molly is a band that started at Falcon Ridge five years later. At the campsites, musicians get together and start making music. Three women ended up forming a band one-night singing together at the campsite.

The next day, there was one of those Falcon Ridge rainstorms, and I was riding out the storm under the dance tent. Was Mairead back on the dance floor? Perhaps barefoot again, risking another splinter? The details are blurry. Where were Kim and Fiona? I think they may have gone up to the tent, to get some food, or perhaps for Fiona to take a nap. Fiona would have been about two and a half at the time. I’m pretty sure it was the day after they had first started playing together, but things are blurry.

Maybe it was the following year, when they had their EP out. I do remember getting their EP and Kim asking who they were. Whenever I first heard them, I was struck by how good they were. In 2006 they came back and were the top vote getters on the Emerging Artist Showcase. We picked up their CDs and they ended up becoming one of Fiona’s favorite bands.

When we heard they were going to be doing a free concert at the Ridgefield Public Library, we had to go. We didn’t tell Fiona who the band was going to be until we got there. Tickets were supposed to become available at 1, the doors were to open at 1:30 and the show was to start at 2:00

We got there at about one and already the line was thirty or forty people long. We weren’t sure how many seats there were in the library room, so we waited hopefully in line. Finally a woman came along handing out tickets, and we got ours. I ran over to get hotdogs from the hotdog cart in Ridgefield. Kim had often read about the hotdog cart and wanted one of their dogs. They were very good.

Finally, the line started moving. We walked past a sign that had been put out announcing that the event was full and we were grateful that we had gotten tickets. Inside the room was already mostly full, except for a couple rows of reserved seats in the front. We sat fairly far back and Fiona grumbled. Then, they announced that children could sit on the floor in the front. Fiona went you, with a little coaxing from Kim. Next, a woman told us that two of the seats in the second row were available, since the people whom they had been reserved for didn’t show up. So, we had great seats and Fiona was front and center on the floor.

They started off with a wonderful a cappella song which I hadn’t heard before. Then, there second song, again, if I remember properly, was Summertime. Summertime is a song written by Carolann Solebello, which reached #1 on the Folk DJ Charts.

“In the middle of a field, in the middle of Kansas, in the middle of the summer on the Fourth of July. The wheat was waving. The day was waning. The stars were falling and the world was right. It was summertime and the living was easier back then.”

It is one of Fiona’s favorite songs, yet somehow, it seems like the lyrics ought to be, “In the middle of a field, in the middle of Hillsdale, in the middle of the summer at the end of July. The folks were singing. The day was waning. The stars were falling and the world was right. It was summertime and the living was easier back then.”

Well, Sunday wasn’t summertime. It was one of those first golden spring like days that Robert Frost spoke about in his poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay. Yet the gold did stay. The world was right for two hours as Red Molly sang. They ended off doing an encore singing the wonderful song by Susan Werner, “May I Suggest”.

“May I suggest? May I suggest to you? May I suggest this is the best part of your life? May I suggest? This time is blest for you.”

Well, it was a blessed event. If you get a chance, go hear Red Molly play. If not, at least pick up one of their CDs.