Lewis Hipkins

This will be Lewis Hipkins' 39th year at the Folk Festival, first attending as a ticket buyer in 1979, and then becoming a volunteer for the Security Committee for a year, and finally, finding a home with the Communicationz Committee for the next 36 years. Lewis served as the Assistant Chair and eventually the Chairman of Communicationz until he joined the Festival Leadership Team in 2015. Lewis is presently the Infrastructure Director for the Philadelphia Folk Festival. He is responsible for oversight and management of the procurement of all materials and equipment needed to create the infrastructure for the festival, as well as the vendors who provide services to the event. Currently, he works with the Communicationz, Central Control, Main Gate, Purchasing, Tram-Cart, SWAT and Tickets committees. The Festival is truly a family affair for the Hipkins’. He and his wife Holly were married at the Folk Festival. Holly has been running the Tram-Cart Shuttle service for the past 6 years, and their son, Lewis, will be taking an active role as a volunteer this year. Lewis also served on the Folksong Society Board for nine years, as director, the Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Committee member. He has a great love for the Archives and history of the Folksong Society and its Festival. Besides PFS and PFF, Lewis is very involved at Pocono Raceway as the PA Engineer, taking care of their audio needs in the Media Center for Press conferences as well as the Track Public Address and caution light systems for all of the NASCAR and Indy Car races. For the past 26 years, Lewis has been the owner of Multi-Media Communications, an electronics company that offers voice, data, security and surveillance products to customers. He has one of the largest blenders at the Festival, producing some of the best Margaritas.