The Festival’s talented team this summer includes our supply clerk, Ms. Elizabeth Martin. Liz’s job is like that of a Hollywood prop master, and she works to procure a wide range of supplies for each program. Liz sends this dispatch from our Festival warehouse:

"Greetings from the supply team at the new warehouse! Requests for supplies have been coming in from the programs, and we are set to meet the challenge of getting every item needed. The Colombia program needs a mule for packing demonstrations, hard-to-find mature coffee plants, and 6 shopping carts. The Peace Corps program covers a wide variety of countries and consequently we are searching for everything from goat skins to old bicycles to mannequins. Furthermore, we just ordered 15,000 golf pencils for kids’ activities throughout the Festival. If you can’t find us behind the growing pile of packages, we are out hunting for deals in our cargo van."

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• Supplies Clerk, Liz Martin.
  Photo by Van Luong
• Photo by Van Luong
• Liz organized and labeled thousands of items from past Festivals for use this summer.
  Photo by Van Luong
• A plastic bin holds can openers.
  Photo by Van Luong
• Taking out from storage dozens of electric fans that power the Festival.
  Photo by Van Luong

Liz is working on her doctorate in ethnomusicology at the CUNY Graduate Center in NYC, focusing on Latin American music and the World Music industry. Born and raised in the Washington area, she has been attending the Festival for many years. She started interning at the Festival in 2007 as an audio documenter, and she loved being in the music tents all day.

Van Luong is the festival blogger for the 2011 Folklife Festival.