![In 2017, Bates students teamed with Lewiston High School students to create a mural in the YWCA gym. The mural's theme is "Women of Color Leading Change." The project was guided by artist Carolina González Valencia of the Bates art and visual culture department. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)](https://www.bates.edu/news/files/2017/04/170326_WYCA_Mural_0620_LR-200x133.jpg)
Folk fest features fiddler Erica Brown, Celtic fusion band the Bridgebuilders
Lewiston fiddler Erica Brown, the Boston-area folk-fusion band the Bridgebuilders, and local and Bates College performers appear at the Bates Community Folk Festival starting at 4:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.
Following the festival in Chase Lounge at 8 p.m. is the college’s regular second-Friday contradance, featuring caller Chrissy Fowler and the bands Playgroup and Perpetual e-Motion.
Sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society, a student organization at Bates, the festival is open to the public at no cost. Suggested donation for the contradance is $6. For more information, please contact kwebber@bates.edu.
The festival begins with a slate of performers from Bates and the region, including Leafy Greens, Grace Glasson, Raspberry Jam, Brendan Davidson, Antonio Dominguez, Nicole Singer and the Bates singing ensembles Northfield and TakeNote.
At 5:30 p.m., Brown and the Bluegrass Connection appear. Brown, who has performed since age 7, is a musician celebrated across the region for a style that combines classical technique with the freewheeling spirit of bluegrass.
The Medford, Mass.-based sextet the Bridgebuilders perform at 6:30. Fusing traditional Celtic folk music with funk and rock, the Bridgebuilders create a distinctive blend of timeless melodies and innovative arrangements that incorporate multiple fiddles, bouzouki and Hammond organ.
Led by Greg Boardman, a prominent Maine fiddler and member of the applied music faculty at Bates, the folk band Chase the Fiddlers provides the tunes for an open waltz beginning at 7:30. The session includes a beginner’s contradance workshop with caller Fowler.
From the Midcoast, Playgroup kicks off the 8 p.m. contradance, followed by Perpetual e-Motion, a Maine duo that enhances traditional songs and instruments with state-of-the-art technology.