List of folk festivals

A folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music. This list includes folk festivals worldwide, except those with only a partial focus on folk music or arts. Folk festivals may also feature folk dance or ethnic foods.

Handicrafting has long been exhibited at such events and festival-like gatherings, as it has its roots in the rural crafts. Like folk art, handicraft output often has cultural, political, and/or religious significance. Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic, and is often sold at festivals by tradespeople or practicing amateurs. As at folk festivals, such art and handicraft may also appear at historical reenactments and events such as Renaissance fairs.

Africa

Morocco

• Marrakech Folkloredays

South Africa

• Misty Waters Music Festival

Asia

Bangladesh

• Dhaka International Folk Fest

India

• Gavari - Sacred Dance Drama Festival

Israel

• Jacob's Ladder

Europe

• Europeade (held each year in a different European country)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Ilidža Folk Music Festival
• Ilidža International Children's Folklore Festival

Belgium

• Boombal Festival

Bulgaria

• Stara planina fest Balkan folk

Denmark

• Tønder Festival

Estonia

• Viljandi Folk Festival

Finland

• Kaustinen Folk Music Festival

France

• Festival Interceltique de Lorient (Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient)
• Rencontres Internationales de Luthiers et Maîtres-Sonneurs

Germany

• Festival-Mediaval XIV, "Folk of the World"

Greece

• Kerasovo Festival, Ioannina

Ireland

• Temple Bar TradFest

Lithuania

• Kaziuko mugė (Saint Casimir's Fair), Vilnius
• Mėnuo Juodaragis (Black-Horned Moon or Moon of the Black Horn), Zarasai
• Parbėg laivelis (Little Ship Is Coming Back), Klaipėda

Netherlands

• Castlefest
• Worldfestival Parade Brunssum

Russia

• Empty Hills, Kaluga Oblast
• Grushinsky festival, near Samara

Spain

• Interceltic Festival of Avilés
• Interceltic Festival of Morrazo
• Ortigueira's Festival of Celtic World

United Kingdom

• Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival (location changes each year)

England

• Beverley Folk Festival, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire
• Cambridge Folk Festival, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
• England's Medieval Festival, Nutley, East Sussex
• Fairport's Cropredy Convention, Cropredy, Oxfordshire
• FolkEast, Somerleyton Hall (near Somerleyton), Suffolk
• Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival, Middlewich, Cheshire
• Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
• Sidmouth Folk Festival, Sidmouth, Devon
• Wickham Festival, Wickham, Hampshire
• Wimborne Folk Festival, Wimborne Minster, Dorset

Northern Ireland

• Soma Festival, Castlewellan, County Down

Scotland

• Celtic Connections, Glasgow
• Edinburgh Folk Festival, Edinburgh
• Shetland Folk Festival, Shetland

Wales

• Between the Trees, Merthyr Mawr
• Green Man Festival, Brecon Beacons

North America

Canada

• Emerald Music Festival

Alberta

• Calgary Folk Music Festival, Calgary
• Canmore Folk Music Festival, Canmore
• Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Edmonton

British Columbia

• Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Vancouver

Manitoba

• Winnipeg Folk Festival, Birds Hill Provincial Park, Winnipeg

Newfoundland and Labrador

• Newfoundland & Labrador Folk Festival, St. John's

Nova Scotia

• Celtic Colours, Cape Breton Island
• Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival, Lunenburg
• Stan Rogers Folk Festival, Canso

Ontario

• CityFolkFestival, Ottawa
• Hillside Festival, Guelph
• Home County Folk Festival, London
• Mariposa Folk Festival, Orillia
• Mill Race Festival of Traditional Folk Music, Cambridge
• Northern Lights Festival Boréal, Greater Sudbury
• Red Rock Folk Festival, Red Rock
• Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival, Owen Sound
• TD Canada Trust Sunfest, London

Saskatchewan

• Regina Folk Festival, Regina

Honduras

• Encuentro Folklórico Nacional El Grande de Grandes

United States

Alaska

• Alaska Folk Festival

Arizona

• Tucson Folk Festival

California

• Big Sur Folk Festival
• Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

District of Columbia

• Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Florida

• Florida Folk Festival

Illinois

• Fox Valley Folk Music And Storytelling Festival

Indiana

• Feast of the Hunters' Moon

Maine

• American Folk Festival

Massachusetts

• Lowell Folk Festival
• New England Folk Festival

Montana

• Montana Folk Festival

New Jersey

• New Jersey Folk Festival

New York

• Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
• Old Songs Festival

North Carolina

• Folkmoot USA
• NC Folk Festival

North Dakota

• Norsk Høstfest

Oklahoma

• Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

Oregon

• Sisters Folk Festival

Pennsylvania

• Flood City Music Festival
• Philadelphia Folk Festival
• Pittsburgh Folk Festival

Rhode Island

• Newport Folk Festival

Tennessee

• The Americana Folk Festival

Texas

• Kerrville Folk Festival

Traveling

• National Folk Festival

Washington

• Northwest Folklife

Wisconsin

• Great River Folk Fest
• Holiday Folk Fair
• Mile of Music

Oceania

Australia

• National Folk Festival
• Woodford Folk Festival

New Zealand

• Whare Flat Folk Festival - held over the New Year period at Whare Flat near Dunedin; run by Dunedin's New Edinburgh Folk Club

References

Further reading

• Coffin, Tristam P.; Cohen, Hennig, (editors), Folklore in America; tales, songs, superstitions, proverbs, riddles, games, folk drama and folk festivals, Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1966. Selections from the Journal of American folklore. Cf. chapter on "Folk Drama and Folk Festival", pp. 195–225,