Labor Day Weekend signals the end of the summer festival season; and while songs around the campfire and at community bandshells are winding down, there's still a lot of folk music happening here, there and everywhere. Unfortunately, a lot of it goes unnoticed amidst the storm of mass marketing for more commercial endeavors.

Besides venues having their own newsletters and musicians their own websites, there are public radio community calendars and valuable publications like SING OUT!, The Folk Times and Dirty Linen. But do you know how most people are introduced to folk music? Word of mouth.

Have you got a big mouth? Will you let others know about this site, these songs and CDs, and about all of your musical discoveries? If you don't, who will? It's all part of the folk process - if you like certain songs, musicians, places to play or hear folk music, pass it on.

A closing thought: There are natural wonders all around us all the time. As we make the transition from summer into fall, consider monarch butterflies. "They use fall's shorter days and cooler nights to know when to migrate, and they use the sun as a compass," according to insect ecologist Dr. O.R. Taylor. "It's likely they also use the earth's geo-magnetic forces to navigate" the 1800 miles back to Mexico and "somehow inexperienced monarchs return to their ancestors' traditional wintering areas."

"Look deep into nature, then you will understand everything better."
Albert Einstein