Congressman Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, succeeded last Friday in shepherding a $500,000 federal appropriation for Folkmoot USA through the congressional appropriations sub-committee he chairs.

George Escaravage, co-chair of Folkmoot’s capital campaign, made the announcement at Folkmoot’s closing performance at Stuart Auditorium at Lake Junaluska on July 31. Taylor was unable to attend the ceremony because he had to leave Sunday morning for Colorado in order to welcome his son home from Iraq where he serves in the U.S. Army.

The money, when combined with the $550,000 already donated by local governments, businesses and individuals, completes the committee’s initial goal of raising $1 million to secure the future of Folkmoot. The funding will benefit the festival in many ways according to Escaravage.

“With this money, we can pay off all of our debt on the Folkmoot Friendship Center and have money to put in the foundation, which helps support the operations of the festival. It takes a lot of weight off of everyone’s shoulders,” said Escaravage.

The funding may also be used to start repairing the roof of the Friendship Center’s auditorium, air condition the entire Friendship Center facility or expand the festival’s range, according to Escaravage.

“We can expand our programming. I would love to take this show on the road and go to Raleigh. We are the official state international festival, and we need to do a performance in the Triangle area so the legislators can come. We need to spread out,” said Escaravage.

The funding may also expedite the idea of expanding the festival’s current schedule of two weeks in late July.

“We are going to do more than just a two week festival. We are going to try and do something in the fall and in the spring so Folkmoot is on people’s minds 365 days a year,” said Escaravage.

Taylor first committed to seeking federal funds for Folkmoot at the festival’s 20th anniversary celebration in 2003. Taylor indicated to Escaravage at that ceremony that he “believed in what Folkmoot was doing for Western North Carolina” and would seek $250,000 in federal funding, according to Escaravage.

However, with the millions of dollars worth of damage caused by the 2004 floods, all available funds were needed for flood relief and no additional federal money could be found to help Folkmoot that year, according to Escaravage.

Escaravage believes the economic and cultural benefits the festival provides Western North Carolina justify the federal appropriation. Taylor and his fellow congressmen are aware of the impact of the festival, said Escaravage, and that probably contributed to their decision to provide the funding this year.

“We have an economic impact of $4.5 million annually on Western North Carolina and have for years. We generate $350,000 of tax revenue each year. But numbers aside, a whole generation of Western North Carolina kids has grown up with Folkmoot. They know where Latvia is, what they do and what they look like. We’ve had over 200 groups from 100 countries here over the years,” said Escaravage.

The appropriations bill must now be signed by the President, which he is widely expected to do. The money will then be made available during the next federal fiscal year, which begins in October.