The Troubadour (a.k.a. Troubadour Folk Club) was formed in 1980 by Bob Pasquarello and was a coffee-house venue at Churchville Nature Center for concerts by local and regional performers on off-nights. Bob and some other local musicians had realized that the auditorium at the Center was very good acoustically for musical performances, and approached the Center management with a proposal for regular concerts. The Troubadour Folk Club was eventually started with a loan from the CNC Advisory Board (‘Friends’).

The first concert featured then-Philadelphians Kim and Reggie Harris in the fall of 1980. The Troubadour continued regularly every Tuesday night (except the summer months) for the next ten years. Bob also instituted an ‘Open Stage,’ where anyone could stop by, sign up and perform three songs before the regular concert. He limited this to six people per night and there were usually more than enough local musicians eager for a spot on stage. 

In later years, this evolved into a round-robin type of ‘Open Stage’ for the entire evening, and the regular concerts were cut back to once or twice a month. The Troubadour was always staffed entirely by volunteers, and it was a separate (self-sufficient) entity not connected with the Nature Center in any way, like the other clubs that met there.

The emphasis of the Troubadour was acoustic music from the beginning and, because the room was so acoustically perfect, a sound system was not always needed, depending on the show. Many regional and national acts performed there, including John Gorka, Amy and Jennie, Tom Paxton, Claudia Schmidt, Eric Andersen, The Persuasions, Magpie, Rosalie Sorrels, Utah Phillips and Garnet Rogers among many others. It was common, during the eighties, to have capacity crowds of about 100 people at each show, and in the case of a few performers for two shows.

Bob relinquished control of the Troubadour in 1991, and a number of people managed it after that:  Lynn Zinberg, Jennifer Willis, Art Dell, Jeff Morgan, and finally Scott Petersen. The gate at the Troubadour had fallen off in the last few years primarily because of conflicts, responsibilities and other commitments, and although there had become many more choices for entertainment in the later years, attendance for fewer shows was on an upswing. Due to lack of interest on the part of local musicians, the ‘Open Stage’ was discontinued and the Troubadour no longer presented concerts every Tuesday night, but occasionally on Saturday nights. 

For eighteen years there was also an annual outdoor Folk Fair, a day-long outdoor event including a variety of performers in a festival setting, with children’s events and crafts. The Fair was originally scheduled in the autumn for its first years, but then was held on a Saturday in June.