World Folkfest 2007 in Utah canceled

12 June, 2007:

The World Folkfest, a popular event featuring diverse entertainment from around the world, has been canceled because of visa problems and other red tape.

World Folkfest began in 1984 with groups from around the globe travelling to Springville in Utah County, the United States, to perform native dances from their countries. The groups themselves pay their travel expenses and stay at the homes of host families in Springville and other nearby cities.

The event for 2007 was scheduled for July 7-14.

Martin Conover, chairman of the festival’s board of directors, explained the visa problem for Romanians: The group from Romania was told to come on a tourist visa, but when they first approached the embassy to get their visas, they were told to get a P-3 visa, which takes two to three months to get.

Groups from Mongolia and the Punjab state in India also ran into visa problems. Other groups, such as one from Peru, had canceled their participation because they could not afford to pay for the trip.

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the process of getting visas for these groups has become much more difficult, said Christi Babbitt, the festival’s publicity director. “It is very disappointing. The board was really devastated to have to make this decision,” she added.

According to Chris Cannon (Republican-Utah), the United States State Department is concerned about visitors who stay beyond the date on their visa. Martin Conover agrees with Cannon, saying that coming in with a dance group would be an easy way to infiltrate and get into the country.

This is the first time in its 22-year-old history that the World Folkfest in Springville has been canceled.

In previous years, performers from many countries only needed a tourist visa, which could be obtained quickly and easily.

The Department of Homeland Security as well as the State Department are hesitant to allow people from certain countries into the United States, Martin Conover said.

Before 2001, World Folkfest saw an average of 8 to 10 international groups perform each year. Since 9/11, that number has been only three to five.

Other international festivals have experienced the same problems, though none appears to have been forced to cancel their events.

Steve Cates, founder and director of the International Folkfest in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, says his organisation has the same problems every year. He shares Martin Conover’s belief that the United States government is making things intentionally difficult for many people to enter the country for such events.