Bridger Folk Music Society papers, 1979-2014

The Bridger Folk Music Society was founded in 1979 by Ron Goede, Sue Packer and Steve Nrny after Goede, who moved to Cache Valley in 1966 from West Virginia, began hosting sing-ins to suppliment the lack of local bluegrass and folk bands.

The society sponsored its first concert in 1980 when Bill Staines, folk singer and champion yodeler performed in the Newman Center for an audience of 14. After that, the society continued to develop concert venues in the valley and new volunteers such as Brad Cole and Mike Johnson joined the effort. In 1989, the Bridger Folk Music Society became a non profit organization, and started hosting concerts in the top floor of the Bluebird restaurant. Later, in the 1990s, the society began to support acoustic jam sessions in the Chapter II book store, which eventually developed into twice-monthly sessions in the Whittier Center in 1998.

Closely entwined with the Bridger Folk Music Society is the Cache Valley Contra Dance Group, which was organized by Kay Forsyth in 1990. Kay connected with Jerry Jurniak (a local mandolin player), Ron Goede, and several others to form a Ceili band to play Irish and Scottish Dance Music for contra dances. The the monthly gatherings gave the folk musicians an opportunity to perform thus strengthening the local folk community.

By 1993, the Society was flourishing and strengthening relations with both local and nationally-acclaimed folk musicians. That year they helped select performers to play at the grand opening of the Ellen Eccles Theater and Bullen Arts Center.

In 2003, Blair Larsen took the lead of the society while hosting a weekly show called, “Fresh Folk” on Utah Public Radio. He began booking regular concerts at Crumb Brother’s Bakery. Today, Bridger Folk Music Society continues to contribute a great deal to the cultural ambience of Cache Valley through regular events and concerts.

Source: Bridger Folk Music Society: 35 Years of Live Music and Dance in Logan (see exhibit text in Mss 507, Box 1, Fd 23)