Over 50 years ago in the year 1973, the former Stockton Folklore Society hosted its first ever Lake Fred Folks and Craft Fair to celebrate the musicians in the community that brought folk culture to life. It was three days of crafts, displays, workshops, and music. Half a century later, one of 91.7 WLFR’s DJ’s, Paige Cripps, and her fellow radio crew decided to bring back the event that was created in the early days of the university.

On November 18, 2025, the Lake Fred Folk Festival ran from 4-9 p.m. The Coffeehouse consisted of food, South Jersey based vendors such as vintage clothing store, Elemental Vintique; a local Atlantic City centered arts magazine, The Diving Horse; a student created exhibition created with the help of Tom Kinsella, curator Viv Verducci, and Stockton University’s Richard E. Bjork Library Archives and Special Collections; and local musicians including Brad Wilson, Ornamental, Mosaic, and Starikova.

Also featured were organizations on campus like Stockton Action Volunteers for the Environment (SAVE) and the Maple Project, who have rich history and grounds in the Pine Barrens and the land around campus. 

Cripps stated, “We’re just trying to bring back the appreciation around the folk music scene and just the local music scene in South Jersey.”

She thanked the work of the DJ’s and Kinsella, who is a local historian and Professor of Literature at Stockton, for the exhibition pieces that were diversified from original flyers and photos of the first Lake Fred Folks and Craft Fair. The origins and history can be viewed online here.