When Marcia conceived Downeast Ceilidh she thought she would just be the producer. She had produced a conservation radio show while in high school in her hometown, Concord, NH. She planned to get a Canadian to host it.
After thinking things through, she decided to host it herself. Her idea was that the show might have more impact with someone not from Atlantic Canada presenting it. At the time, the music of the region was dismissed, even by those who lived there as “home music” or some quaint antiquity that was of no interest to anyone but natives. By having it hosted by someone not from the Maritimes it would help show that this music was beautiful, important and worth listening to even if you weren’t a Maritimer.
Just getting it on the radio not only exposed it to a wider audience who had never heard it, but it help elevate it in the eyes of folks from Atlantic Canada. At an event at the Canadian-American club a young man (probably in his twenties) told her “Until I heard your show I never knew he was famous. Until now I just thought he was my weird Uncle.”
BTW, the picture above is Marcia with her old friend Joe Cormier.
The Folktracks Collection 
What a beautiful way to celebrate Marcia’s life!
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