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National Folk Festival (United States)

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National Folk Festival
GenreFolk
Dates1934 - Present
Location(s)United States
Years active1934–present
FoundersNational Council for the Traditional Arts
Attendance175,000+[1]
Websitewww.nationalfolkfestival.com

The National Folk Festival (NFF) is an itinerant folk festival in the United States. Since 1934, it has been run by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) and has been presented in 26 communities around the nation.[2][1] After leaving some of these communities, the National Folk Festival has spun off several locally run folk festivals in its wake, including the Lowell Folk Festival, the Richmond Folk Festival, the American Folk Festival and the Montana Folk Festival. The most recent spin-off is the North Carolina Folk Festival.[3] The next year of the festival will be held in Salisbury, Maryland, in 2022, the fourth year of a four-year run in Salisbury.[4][5][6]

Beginnings in St. Louis

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The National Folk Festival in the United States (known also as the National) was founded by folklorist Sarah Gertrude Knott and first presented in St. Louis in 1934.[7] The Festival is the oldest multi-cultural traditional arts celebration in the nation and the first event of national stature to put the arts of many nations, races and languages into the same event on an equal footing. Some of the artists presented at the first festival are now legendary and the recordings and other documentation made possible by the National are precious. W.C. Handy's first performance on a desegregated stage was at the 1938 National. It was the first event of national stature to present the blues, Cajun music, a polka band, a Tex-Mex conjunto, a Sacred Harp ensemble, Peking opera, and others.

Locations

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Number Year(s) Location
1 1934 St. Louis, Missouri[1]
2 1935 Chattanooga, Tennessee[1]
3 1936 Dallas, Texas[1]
4 1937 Chicago, Illinois[1]
5–9 1938–1942 Washington, D.C.[2][1]
10–11 1943–1944 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[1]
12 1946 Cleveland, Ohio[1]
13–21 1947–1955 St. Louis, Missouri[1]
22 1957 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma[1]
23 1959 Nashville, Tennessee[1]
24–25 1960–1961 Washington, D.C.[1]
26 1963 Covington, Kentucky[1]
27 1964 Florence, Kentucky[1]
28 1965 St. Petersburg, Florida[1]
29 1966 Denver, Colorado[1]
30 1967 Syracuse, New York[1]
31 1968 Milwaukee, Wisconsin[1]
32 1969 Knoxville, Tennessee[1]
33–44 1971–1982 Vienna, Virginia at Wolf Trap[2][1]
45–47 1983–1985 Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, Ohio[1]
48 1986 New York, New York[1]
49–51 1987–1989 Lowell, Massachusetts[1]
52–54 1990–1992 Johnstown, Pennsylvania[1]
55–57 1993–1995 Chattanooga, Tennessee[1]
58–60 1996–1998 Dayton, Ohio[1][8]
61–63 1999–2001 East Lansing, Michigan[1]
64–66 2002–2004 Bangor, Maine[1]
67–69 2005–2007 Richmond, Virginia[1]
70–72 2008–2010 Butte, Montana[1]
73 2011 Nashville, Tennessee[1]
74 2013 St. Louis, Missouri[1]
75–77 2015–2017 Greensboro, North Carolina[1]
78–81 2018–2019

2021–2022

Salisbury, Maryland[9][5][6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah "Request for Proposal for 2018 - 2020" (PDF). National Council for the Traditional Arts.
  2. ^ a b c "National Folk Festival History" (PDF). National Council for the Traditional Arts.
  3. ^ "The North Carolina Folk Festival". Arts Greensboro. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  4. ^ "National Folk Festival Salisbury, MD Coming to Eastern Shore". National Folk Festival Salisbury MD | Music Festival. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  5. ^ a b "National Folk Festival rescheduled to September 2021". 47abc. 2020-04-22. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  6. ^ a b "National Folk Festival adds another year to its stay in Salisbury; event will return in 2022". Bay to Bay News. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  7. ^ "A Brief history of the National Folk Festival" (PDF). National Folk Festival.
  8. ^ [1] NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL - June 20-22, 1997 - Dayton, Ohio at the Wayback Machine (archived October 5, 2006)
  9. ^ "Salisbury selected to host National Folk Festival - Salisbury Independent". Salisbury Independent. 2017-06-05. Retrieved 2017-06-11.
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