NC Folk Fest runs through this weekend

You already know what the folk is going on.

The North Carolina Folk Festival returns to downtown Greensboro Sept. 8-10 for its fifth year with great music, good food, attractive crafts and more for the whole family to enjoy. The three-day, free-admission, multi-stage outdoor festival features a lineup of more than 300 artists from various genres, offering a range of performances that highlight Greensboro’s dedication to diversity and inclusivity in the arts scene.

“Greensboro is a community that values the creative cultural expressions of global, American roots, and North Carolina artists,” says Amy Grossmann, President & CEO of the NC Folk Festival. “The broad range of musical styles we highlight in our program each year is a reflection of those values – presenting familiar sounds while simultaneously welcoming the new and unfamiliar.”

Bask in the Venezuelan-Appalachian sounds of duo Larry & Joe, dance along with the Green Grass Cloggers and Little Stony Nighthawks or praise and worship with the Dedicated Men of Zion.

This year, the folk fest is excited to announce its partnership with JM International (JMI) to bring the international folk music exchange program Ethno USA to the festival, hosting collaborative and educational opportunities for musicians to share cultural experiences through music.

 “Core values of welcoming and supporting people from diverse backgrounds are imbued into the spirit of the Greensboro community and into our presentation of the NC Folk Fest each year,” says Grossmann. “This partnership with Ethno USA is a natural and fitting extension of our shared values to promote cultural understanding through the arts, and we are thrilled to build on that community spirit.”

Ethno will convene nearly 40 musicians from around the world for a week-long residency in Greensboro where each participant will teach a folk or traditional song from their home country during workshops and jam sessions. The residency features three public performances of original and new songs created during the residency, and two of these performances will be featured on stage during the festival. People will come together to view the performances, much like the artists coming together to create them.

“Ethno has a successful track record of bringing people together to cooperate, collaborate and learn from each other. For so many participants, Ethno is a life-changing program,” says Suchet Malhotra, Program Director of Ethno. “Musicians learn how to coexist in harmony, solve and dissolve their differences, and co-create something much larger than themselves, something that they can be proud of. The learnings and takeaways reverberate for years.”

In addition to concerts, the festival features facilitated workshops with some of the festival’s performers, dance socials and jam sessions. Treat yourself and others with gifts from marketplace vendors including hand-jarred honey from NC Bee Exchange, handcrafted natural body products from J.L Essentials or seasonings and sauces from Black Dog Gourmet Sauce Company.

On Sunday, Sep. 10, start your morning by running in the first-ever 5K to support the NC Folk Festival before enjoying the final day’s performances, food trucks and family activities.

Learn more at ncfolkfestival.com.