If you've never been to Newport Folk Festival, it's a blast. The music is great, the venue – Fort Adams State Park – is beautiful and the food is tasty and local. There are no big soft drink advertisements as the festival does a great job of limiting the amount of commercial crap-o-la. The only detractors I would say is that Newport is expensive, which requires advanced planning, especially since camping is not allowed at Fort Adams. We have camped in the past at Melville Ponds Campground about 15 miles away and the breakfast across the street at Cindy's Country Cafe makes the trip more than worth it (let alone the festival).
I just posted this ad on Craigslist and I post it here not to add attention to the ad — just to share that I am proud of it. The ad begins:
Attention Newport fans. Each year the festival is sold out faster and faster, excluding more and more music lovers. This year, we have decided to save some money and forego our annual pilgrimage to Newport. Here’s where you come in: need tickets? We could sell our tickets and make a profit and we certainly could use the cash. That said, we’d rather sell our tickets go to you. The music lover. The fan. The friendly festival goer.
Happy Newport Folk Fest — hope you enjoy the festival! I may follow up later on about some of the best tips and approaches to Newport.