Welcome to the Maldon Folk Festival

"I can think of no other music festival in Australia that is more worthy of support. In my opinion, the Maldon Festival is the premier "Grass Roots" type of festival in Australia today.

The trend in Australia these days seems to be for music festivals that grow larger and more crowded every year, with crowds, costs, and admission charges spiralling forever upwards. While this has obvious economic advantages for the musicians involved, the sheer size of these festivals tends to make them fairly passive experiences, with the audience and performers acting out their allotted roles without too much inter-mingling.

In stubborn defiance of trends, Maldon Festival continues to try and present an informal, interactive family-based festival. It is also very much a community-based festival, with the local towns-people playing an active and supportive role in the festival. Whilst this is not unique within music festivals in Australia, I believe the high level of that support is. Musicians generally hold the Maldon Folk Festival, and it's philosophy, in high regard, and that regard is evidenced by the fact that many of them provide their services to the festival free of charge, or at most, for travel expenses or a nominal fee.

I myself have performed at the festival on three occasions over the years, and will no doubt be cajoled, cozened, or blackmailed into appearing again in the future! And will do so gladly."

~ Eric Bogle AM