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Dartmoor Folk Festival 2004
 
the preparation
The 27th Dartmoor Folk Festival held at South Zeal, near Okehampton, on August 6th, 7th and 8th 2004, was a resounding success. One of the highlights of the summer on the moor, the crowds arrived in their hundreds to enjoy traditional music, song, crafts and dance. Visitors were treated to a packed programme of entertainment which included performances from some of the top artists from the folk world playing alongside the best local musicians and singers. Held immediately after the close of the Sidmouth International Festival, music fans desperate for more folk were urged to jump on the wagon and head to South Zeal
settling in
The acclaimed Dartmoor Pixie Band got the festival off to a flying start after the opening concert when they played for dancing for hundreds of people in a huge marquee erected at South Zeal Playing Field. The next morning there were song and music sessions and workshops teaching the Dartmoor stepdance and broomdance. A lunchtime concert with the band Flowers and Frolics, accompanied by vocalist, Bob Davenport, was followed by tales from storytellers Taffy Thomas and Carolyn Francis. Opening the Grand Dartmoor Fayre were two former entertainers and folk festival stalwarts - June Smith and Edna Dunning.  Until their retirement last year, the pair captivated audiences performing as Devon couple, Ned and Martha 'Annaford.
singing, drinking, speeches and dancing .
At other events during the weekend, which included concerts, ceilidhs, and many other events, the entertainers were John Spiers and Jon Boden, All Blacked Up, The Amazing Mr Smith, Sara Grey and Kieron Means, Ed Rennie, Peta Webb and Ken Hall, Betty and Norman McDonald, and performances by Ryburn Longsword dancers.
Amongst other activities were a ramble over Dartmoor , children's workshops and concerts, a folk service and a duck race. More than a dozen dance teams provided a colourful spectacle for visitors to the festival, with some of the teams also dancing in Okehampton and at The Finch Foundry, at nearby Sticklepath. Local crafts were exhibited in a huge craft marquee at South Zeal Playing Field, where there were demonstrations, including reed rope making, skip making and spinning.
broom dancing and watching
Highlight of the afternoon were the Dartmoor stepdance and broomdance competitions . The broomdance competition sees dancers forsake their traditional human partners to dance with yes, you've guessed it, a broom. Winner was Hugh Clark, aged nine years, of Ford Farm, South Zeal. Hugh was only the third boy to win the title in the 27 years the competition has been run. Ford Farm was a former home of the founder of the festival, the late Bob Cann, who received the British Empire Medal for his service to folk music before his death in 1990. Bob Cann's inspiration of a festival to help revive and preserve the traditions of Dartmoor and, in particular, the traditional music, dance, song and crafts of the area is continued today by members of his family, friends and other supporters all striving to ensure the festival continues.