Home - Portland Folkmusic Society

Concert Tickets Now Available

The PFS 2022-23 Concert season got off to a great start with a concert by Tim Grimm. We hope you didn't miss it!

Coming up next: Deidre McCalla on October 8. Read about Deirdre, and get your tickets, on the Concerts Page!

Fall Song - October 21-23 - Registration open

Fall Song, PFS's annual on-line festival of homemade music, is coming SOON. We have a growing line-up of participant-led workshops, song-circles and mini-concerts. And, every evening, a chance to participate in big group sings.

Register now if you know you are coming. Registration is simple and quick, and it's not too late to volunteer to lead an event if you would like to. Just go to the FallSong page.

Thank you PFS Volunteers!

PFS started in 1976 when a group of people who shared a love for a certain kind of music met in a living room and decided to create a folk music club. Today we have 371 active members - and, we’re still run by and for the members. We are and have always been a volunteer-run organization. People volunteer because they enjoy it, but it’s still good to stop every now and then to acknowledge them. So thank you dear volunteers!

We have declared October to be Volunteer Month at PFS.

Here are four ways YOU can help celebrate Volunteer Month:

Read this month's Local Lore

Lots of PFS volunteers share their stories in this special Volunteering issue. (There's lots of other great stuff too).

If you have it delivered, it will soon be in your mail box, and of course you can also download a digital copy by clicking right here.

Thank the volunteers

The next time you go to a PFS event, whether on-line or in person, notice the people who are selling tickets, keeping things organized, introducing musicians, keeping lists up to date - all the stuff that makes it possible to have successful events. And, think about all the work that has already been done, in getting venues, musicians, publicity, insurance and so on. And then, find a volunteer, and go up and introduce yourself and thank them for what they are doing.

They will definitely appreciate it.

And, of course, if you are curious, and if they have time to chat, you can ask them about why THEY volunteer and what they get out of it!

Find out about volunteering at PFS

At PFS, we have grouped the volunteer jobs into "Committees". But don't worry - that's just the way we organize things. Some of the Committees only have a couple of members, and some of them never have meetings. But in any case, people volunteer with a goal in mind - maybe having great concerts, or making Local Lore always exciting to read, or having the Virtual Song Circles be fun, efficient and safe. Other committees have bigger goals, starting with the Board of Directors, which has the goal of making sure that PFS fulfills its purpose and remains financially viable and programmatically relevant.

You can find a list of all the committees and their members by going to the "Get Involved!" menu above, and pulling down to "Committees".

Volunteer with PFS!

If you think you'd enjoy volunteering, or you'd like to know more, send an email to any of the members of the committees, or to the chair, or to the WHOLE committee. Tell them what your skills are, and what you'd like to do, and please just ask any questions you have (and you WILL have questions - that's fine!) Someone will get back to you.

If a committee isn't looking for anyone now, they'll tell you. Please don't be discouraged. Most of the committees would LOVE to have new members.

Thank you!

VSC - Virtual Song Circles

Every Saturday night, since March 2020 when the pandemic began, PFS has invited people to join on line to sing together. This phenomenon has spread across the country and the world, and every night of the week singers can find an event - or several - where like-minded voices are getting together. The pandemic may be over (we know there is some debate about that) but the joy of singing together continues, and we don't expect it to stop.

You can log on at six, and singing starts at 6:30 (Pacific Time) every Saturday. Come when you like, stay as long as you like.

If you want to find out more about Virtual Song Circles, just click here.

If you already know everything you need to know and you just want to hurry up and get in the room, please! - click here to join.

Countdown

Board Meeting Tuesday Evening September 23 7pm

The PFS Board will hold its monthly meeting Tuesday September 27 at 7:00 PM Pacific Time, on Zoom.

All PFS Members are welcome to come and observe. To join the meeting, log into the website in the up right hand corner of this page. The link will be posted here prior to the meeting.

Events Calendar

Please check out our events calendar below. Editor Barry Gorden manages to capture almost all the upcoming folk events, but if yours is missing please let us know. The list below shows the next week's events, and is updated continuously.

If you need more, go to the Events menu above and pull down to Folk Calendar. When you go there, you can sort by performances, classes, virtual, radio - whatever you like - and you'll have all the events from now until... well, you'll find everything we know about. If it's not listed here, it's probably not happening.

Not a member?

It's easy to Join PFS

Since 1976, Portland FolkMusic Society has been active preserving, presenting and promoting folk music and arts in the greater Portland Oregon area. PFS sponsors song circles, concerts, workshops and retreats, and helps its members and the whole community pass the word around about folk music events, from old time ballads to sea shanties, from 60’s protest folk to contemporary singer-songwriters.

PFS is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

Portland FolkMusic Society
P.O. Box 1448
Portland, OR 97207-1448