The United States is a melting pot of diverse cultures, traditions and heritages. The National Folk Festival (NFF) is an annual event that celebrates these differences by bringing people from across the country together through music, dance, stories, and workshops.
The annual festival has been running since 1934 and calls a new city home every three years. Most recently, it found its 81st resting place in Salisbury, Maryland.
- The National Folk Festival’s residency in Salisbury was a year longer than the usual 3 due to Covid-19.
- 2018 – 2022 was the first time that the organisation took residency in its hometown.
- By 2022, the festival had travelled to 26 communities in the U.S.
- The 2022 festival had 7 performance stages with over 35 participating groups.
- Annually the festival contributes between $15 and 30 million to the economy.
- Between 2018 and 2022, more than 400, 000 people attended the festival.
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The Festival’s Relationship With Salisbury
The National Council of Traditional Arts has been producing the NFF since 1934. In each new city that it travels to, the community joins hands with the council and also plays a role in the production of the festival.
Cities have to apply to be a host of the NFF, which tends to be quite a competitive process. Their approval is based on whether they have a demonstrated understanding of the role that culture plays in community building and revitalization efforts. They should also have a collective commitment and vision of how the event could enrich their community.
From 2018 until 2022, this community was Salisbury in Maryland. It was the first time since its inception that the residency was in the home state of The National Council of Traditional Arts.
Breaking the tradition of its typical three-year stay, the NFF remained in Salisbury for a fourth year in 2022. This fourth year gave the city an additional year to recover from the blows of the pandemic.
The festival tends to bring about more than just community engagement in the cities it travels to. It also stimulates economic growth and local businesses. The annual economic impact of each festival is estimated between $15-30 million.
It’s estimated that more than 400, 000 people attended the event during the festival’s stay at Salisbury. The festival has not only ushered community engagement in the area but also brought major renovations to the downtown area.
National Folk Festival Caters To All
The NFF is free of charge, a technique used to maximize attendance with the goal of reaching a broader public. By bringing artists that represent diverse cultural traditions in the U.S. together, one of the festival’s objectives is to raise awareness around cultural heritage.
In 2022, there were over 35 groups that worked to achieve this objective and seven performance stages across the city. These stages included the following:
- Perdue Dance Pavilion, found at West Market and Camden streets.
- Maryland Traditions Family Folklife Area & Stage, found at South Division and Camden streets.
- TidalHealth Stage, found at East Carroll and South Division streets.
- Richard A. Henson Foundation Stage, found at North Division and Church streets.
The festival builds itself from the ground up by closely working with grassroots organisations in every city that it travels to. The NFF tries to use completely new performers at each event to diversify the experience and showcase as many cultures and traditions as feasible.
2022 saw the debut of skateboarding and a drag show, two folk traditions which had previously not been featured by the festival: 2022 also saw the return of the full Maryland Traditions Folklife Area and Stage, with a robust program called ‘Maryland at work’ that featured participants from all corners of the state ‘at work’.
Some of the diverse performers which took part in 2022 included Janice Green and Naomi Reid offering Black storytelling, Robert Clarke performing juggling and magic, a performance by the band Charm City Junction, and Maryland WERKS drag performers. Chao Tian and Karen Ashbrook also performed American and Chinese hammered dulcimer music, Gerdan performed traditional Ukrainian music and blues magician Walter “Wolfman” Washington lit up the stage.
The Legacy Of The National Folk Festival
As much as the NFF is about community and entertainment, it’s also about laying a foundation for sustainable and locally-produced festivals and events that will have a long life even after the NFF moves on from the area.
The festival has lived in nearly 30 cities, and its legacy has birthed a number of satellite events. Some of them include the following:
- Lowell Folk Festival in Massachusetts has been running for 36 years.
- Flood City Music Festival in Pennsylvania has been running for 33 years.
- Richmond Folk Festival in Virginia has been running for 18 years.
- North Carolina Folk Festival in North Carolina has been running for 8 years.
In 2022, its newest baby was born—the Maryland Folk Festival. The festival will take place in Salisbury for the first time in 2023. This satellite event is meant to mimic its influence by platforming diverse traditions, cultures, and artistry.
The first annual Maryland Folk Festival will be held between the 22nd and 24th of September in 2023 in Downton Salisbury, Maryland. It will be free and open to all.
National Folk Festival Facts For 2023
As 2023 unfolds, so will the NFF. Where this unfolding will take place, however, remains uncertain. But the National Endowment for the Arts approved a grant to support the festival that the NFF recently received will be central to ongoing efforts in 2023.
The team says that they are reviewing several finalists and that the host city will be announced in Spring 2023.
Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/nationalfolkfestival/
Nathan has always been captivated by numbers and patterns. With a Master’s degree in Statistics, he’s honed his skills to decipher complex data sets and discern market trends.
Over the past decade, Nathan has worked with various firms compiling and analyzing industry spending figures to forecast market movements.