National Folk Festival kicks off this weekend in Salisbury

The National Folk Festival – one of America’s largest, most prestigious and longest-running arts, culture, and heritage celebrations – kicks off this Friday in Salisbury.

The free, large-scale three-day outdoor event, celebrates the roots, richness and variety of American culture, featuring over 350 of the nation’s finest traditional musicians, dancers, craftspeople.

Salisbury Mayor Jake Day spoke to our Mike Bradley and highlighted the event that has drawn hundreds of thousands to the city.

The event will feature seven stages with a variety of performances along with countless other activities and vendor sites over the course of the three-day celebration.

“Artisans, many of whom are from the Chesapeake region, an entire section of curated regional artisans, including somebody from Smith Island making Smith Island Cakes,” Mayor Day said. “Oysters, food galore, not to mention the 21 downtown restaurants, food businesses we’ve got. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The National’s three-year stay in each host city is intended to lay the groundwork for a sustainable, locally produced festival that continues after it moves on. Salisbury claimed host to the Festival from 2018 through 2020.

The National Folk Festival has been presented in 29 cities.