Liz Thomson, founder of The Village Trip, recalls Peter's encouragement
and enduring contribution to the Festival
In June 2015, six months into my active quest to set up a festival celebrating Greenwich Village, I found myself at the Museum of the City of New York for the launch of Folk City, the exhibition which chronicled the New York folk revival. Doug Yeager, who would become a great buddy, invited me having heard from Janis Ian about this weird British obsessive who wanted to be there. It was a terrific exhibit, curated by Stephen Petrus (who co-wrote the accompanying book with Ronald Cohen) and its opening was celebrated with a concert. It seemed as if the entire folk scene joined hands for the finale: Oscar Brand and Fred Hellerman, Izzy Young, Tom Paxton, David Amram, Noel Paul Stookey and Peter Yarrow. Oscar and Fred died the following year, Izzy in 2019. And now Peter too is gone, a loss that will touch many hearts, for he touched so many lives.
A day or two after our uptown encounter, Peter called me. My idea was great, he said, but any celebration of that era, and of the Village must include activism, which he saw as inseparable from music. He was warm and encouraging and gave freely of his time. Over the next few years, as what would become The Village Trip: A Festival of Arts & Activism acquired form, I sent Peter occasional updates. Then in September 2022, our fifth festival, he wrote asking if he might join the audience at the Bitter End to watch Reggie Harris, Our Band, Magpie, David Amram and MC Danny Goldberg for Chords of Fame: A Salute to Phil Ochs. He slipped in and out almost unseen, his body frail but his spirit undimmed. Cliff Pearson and I were thrilled. He wrote:
โCongratulations on all you have done. Iโm thrilled that some of my words resonatedย andย ultimately made sense, regarding the festival that you created. Kudosย andย congratulations in the extreme!โ
The following year, Peter joined the audience one more, this time at the Salmagundi Club, for a concert of new music that included the world premiere of A Village Triptych by his old friend Carman Moore. He was, as always, charming and engaged, and Cliff and I told him about the climactic festival event: Let Freedom Ring: Music and Voices of the March for Civil Rights, Then and Now. Peter said heโd try to come. A couple of days later, he emailed to ask if he might bring his guitar and join the finale โ would that be all right? Just to have him be present was an honour, a benediction! At the event, he didnโt simply join the finale โ he and daughter Bethany went on to lead the cast and audience in a rousing chorus of โIf I Had a Hammer.โ It was profoundly moving.
The next day Peter emailed us again:
โIt was an extraordinary eveningโฆ It was as if we were not just remembering the feelingsย andย the spirit of the marches but actually participating in one in the present time. It recalled the outrageย andย the pain, but also it was filled with loveย andย determination, as was the case in the โ60s. Sending loveย andย congratulations.โ
Thank you, Peter, for all your wonderful music, with Peter, Paul & Mary, and in the years afterwards, solo and with Noel, and for showing the healing power of music. And of course, for your encouragement and support of The Village Trip.
We wonโt let the light go out.