On Thursday, October 1, Jenny Jobbins, founder of Tay Creek Folk Festival, passed away. The festival’s organizers report that her passing was both sudden and unexpected, and it was without suffering. For many, she represented the heart and soul of the festival, a well-read bon vivant, and nothing short of a legend.
Meeting Jenny for the first time was a fascinating experience—at least for myself. I can remember being introduced to her, having just been gently commandeered from a conversation with one of the festival’s headlining acts, with the intriguing offer: “Here’s someone that you really have to meet!”
As I wondered who could possibly be more interesting than the headlining artist, I was led away from the festival’s stage and placed at a table where a woman in a floppy brimmed hat offered me carrot cake. Despite my immediate surprise, this curiously festooned, dessert-bearing woman of indeterminate age proved to be the most fascinating person in the midst of a music festival. Within the first few minutes of my first conversation with Jenny Jobbins, I became fairly convinced that this woman has never uttered an uninteresting sentence in her life.
An author and journalist by trade, Jenny Jobbins’ life story reads like an Ian Fleming novel. Having worked abroad, in both interesting places and interesting times, her conversations were casually sprinkled with ambassadors and diplomats in a way that suggested you might stumble upon a smoking gun any second. Over the three brief years that I knew her, every time we spoke she’d pull out a seemingly inexhaustible number of incredulous tales, each one spilling over into the next, leaving me never completely convinced that she wasn’t a spy.
In short, Jenny was one of the highlights of Tay Creek, or anywhere else. It’s difficult to summarize her character in such a few short paragraphs, or the impact that she had on that community, but in a whole festival designed to fascinate she effortlessly stood out.
Jenny’s son Guy Jobbins had this to say:
“With heavy hearts, we must tell you that Jenny has gone to her last adventure, suddenly and quite unexpectedly, on Thursday afternoon. She leaves all of us richer for knowing her, poorer by her absence.
Jenny was multi-talented, caring, fiercely independent, and determined to experience everything life has to offer. She was witty and whimsical, with a tremendous capacity to laugh at herself and find humour in the unlikeliest places. She lived in France, Switzerland, Iran, Egypt, Singapore, Germany, Yemen, Hong Kong and Canada, and travelled widely. She crossed Russia by train in the 80s, sailed a felucca down the Nile in the 70s, and drove across Afghanistan in the 60s. She made friends everywhere she went.
She wrote books, edited newspapers, painted, took photographs, threw legendary parties, and loved to be surrounded by people. She created the Tay Creek Folk Festival in 2008, supporting local musicians in New Brunswick, bringing together hundreds of dedicated music fans every summer since, giving her incredible joy.
She loved learning, and was always interested and interesting. Just last week she was excited about discovering an online trove of books on mediaeval history, and was preparing to make an anthology of her own travel writing. Despite restrictions on travel and socialising imposed by COVID – not her style at all – she remained upbeat and active, and looked forward to new plans and new goals. Her sudden departure is unfathomable.
Jenny leaves behind her sons, Simon, Nick and Guy, their partners Jennifer, Cheryl and Marcia, her granddaughters Holly and Ella, their partners Calum and Dan, her great-grandsons Hugo and Harvey, her niece Leah, and hundreds of friends. We are heartbroken, but take comfort knowing she lived a full life with a free spirit.
Wishing love and peace to you all.”
“Our hearts are broken,” said Tay Creek’s Festival organizers. “Jenny was more than just our festival’s founder, she was the driving force behind it. She was the inspiration for all its quirks and charms. She was the heart and soul of the best-kept secret of New Brunswick festivals. She was our hostess. She was our friend.
“Jenny will be very dearly missed.”
While the news of Jenny’s passing has come as a terrible blow to Tay Creek Folk Festival, organizers have wisely noted that 2020 simply is not the year to be making any decisions when it comes to the fate of the festival.