2018 NC FolkFest Recap

The 2018 North Carolina Folk Festival kicked off on Friday evening in Downtown Greensboro. The three-day festival lasted September 7 through 9 where crowds enjoyed more than 30 musical performances, dancing, storytelling, and art on seven different stages. Festival goers enjoyed traditional festival cuisine, as well as regional dishes and food from other countries. Handmade crafts from local artists were also available for purchase.

This is the first year for the locally produced outdoor festival which replaced the National Folk Festival, that was hosted by the city each September from 2015 to 2017. Festival organizers estimate a total of 175,000 people attended the weekend’s events.

Greensboro native and Grammy Award-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens performed on Friday and Saturday and also served as guest curator. One of her festival performances included the song “Summertime,” from the well-known Rodgers and Hammerstein folk opera, Porgy and Bess. Giddens will also star as the character, Bess from Porgy and Bess, in the first booked performance for the Steven B. Tanger Performing Arts Center, scheduled for November 2020. In 2017, she was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in recognition of her ongoing work to reclaim African American contributions to folk and country music.

“I’m very excited about this and I love the way we’re going to be using this production to bring Greensboro together even more and include educational opportunities for students. This is a chance to really enhance the community through the arts,” said Giddens.

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