Festival
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Festival Family
By selecting a city to host for three years, the NCTA aims to lay the groundwork for sustainable, locally-produced legacy festivals that continue after the National moves on to its next location.
Legacy festivals contribute significantly to their communities’ cultural and economic vitality, drawing crowds of 130,000 – 220,000 and generating $15-30 million in regional economic impact annually. They bolster awareness and pride for local histories and folkways, foster appreciation for other cultures, and strengthen community bonds by uniting residents, nonprofits, businesses, and government entities in working toward a common goal that benefits the local host community, state and region.
These broad-based coalitions are the foundation of successful National Folk Festivals and legacy festivals alike, along with an intangible, but essential element—a creative community vision and collective energy that propels and sustains these endeavors. Legacy festivals also provide the impetus for continued enhancement, re-imagining and repurposing of public spaces in host communities.
North Carolina Folk Festival
Greensboro, North Carolina
In September 2015, the National Folk Festival launched its three-year tenure in Greensboro, North Carolina, marking the festival’s return from a short hiatus. As a city historically at the center of struggles for individual rights and freedom, Greensboro was a fitting host city for the National’s celebration of the myriad cultural traditions that collectively define America, and its spirit of community collaboration. Local leadership, seeking to bolster an already-strong arts community, was eager to establish a new signature event spotlighting Greensboro’s history and many distinctive cultural communities, as well as the rich traditional arts that thrive in North Carolina. The city also aspired to increase tourism and reinvigorate its historic downtown district. This vision, strengthened by the spirit, energy, and enthusiasm of the city’s residents, made Greensboro fertile ground to seed both the National and its legacy event, the North Carolina Folk Festival.
The National was an enormous success throughout its three-year residency, and in 2018, Arts Greensboro successfully launched the North Carolina Folk Festival, whose first two years fetched attendance upwards of 150,000 and $15 million in economic impact. The North Carolina Folk Festival proudly carries on the National’s legacy and mission to annually weave a tapestry reflecting the evolving character of Greensboro, the state of North Carolina, and the nation.
Sept. 18 - 20, 2026
Maryland Folk Festival
Salisbury, Maryland
The National Folk Festival began a new chapter in Salisbury, Maryland, in 2018—the first time in its history the festival had come to the NCTA’s home state. Driven by the community’s commitment to build its reputation as an arts and culture destination, Salisbury’s revitalized downtown proved an ideal site for the National Folk Festival.
While Salisbury was meant to host the 78th, 79th, and 80th National Folk Festivals from 2018-2020, the festival was postponed in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in the festival's history, it went online, hosting a two-day, live-streamed event featuring new and archival performances from many of the festival’s beloved artists. Festival organizers, staff, volunteers, artists, and attendees came together again two more times for the 80th and 81st National Folk Festivals in Salisbury in 2021 and 2022. Through five years of partnership, more than 400,000 people visited Downtown Salisbury, generating more than $50 million in regional economic impact. For the duration of the event’s residency, the National Folk Festival had lasting impacts for its partners—culturally, artistically, and economically—in the community, region, state, and nationally.
