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- Jackson, Mississippi, will host the 82nd National Folk Festival for a three-year residency from 2025 to 2027.
- The festival will feature over 300 musicians, dancers, and craftspeople with performances on six stages across a 10-block area.
- A diverse lineup of Mississippi artists, including Bobby Rush and The Sonic Boom of the South, will be featured.
- In addition to performances, the event includes food courts, a marketplace for artists, and cultural demonstrations.
After months of anticipation, the 82nd National Folk Festival is just around the corner.
The festival is the first of a three-year residency in Downtown Jackson, the first city in Mississippi to serve as host.
Jackson will hold the National Folk Festival from 2025 to 2027. The capital city was chosen out of 42 competing cities nationwide.
Produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the National Folk Festival began in 1934 and has since become the nation’s longest-running traditional arts event, according to its website.
In the mid-1980s, the National Folk Festival was reinvented with the intention of transforming its host cities culturally and economically through three-year residencies.
The event has brought outdoor multicultural celebrations to 13 cities throughout the nation since its first residency in Lowell, Massachusetts, from 1987 to 1989.
The National Folk Festival has laid the groundwork for each city to continue its own folk festival after the residency ends, and several cities have since hit double digits with thriving annual festivals.
If all goes according to plan, Jackson will continue to host an annual folk festival after the National Folk Festival’s last event in 2027.
If you go:
- Friday, Nov. 7: 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 8: 12 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 9: 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Who’s playing at the National Folk Festival?
Since the National Folk Festival announced its Jackson residency in November 2024, attending artists from throughout the nation have been gradually revealed.
In total, the festival will welcome more than 300 musicians, dancers, craftspeople and more representing all different cultures.
Following are some of the Mississippi artists set to perform, show art or lead presentations:
- Bobby Rush, blues
- John Primer & the Real Deal Blues Band, blues
- Ms. Jody, Southern soul
- Oka Homma Alla Hilha Alhiha, Choctaw social dancing
- The Sonic Boom of the South, Jackson State University marching band
- Leaving Legacies, krump dance
- Vasti Jackson, country and blues
- Bessie Johnson, pine needle basketry
- Betty Crawford, mixed-media sculpture and quilting
- Big A & the Allstars with the Delta Blues Museum Students, blues
- The Bland Family Farm, Black agricultural traditions
- Blue Monday Band, blues
- Bobby Whalen, sign painting
- Change Skateboard Shop, skateboarding
- Dr. Tammy Greer and Robin Whitfield, native plant traditions, pigments and dyes
- Eleanor Chickaway, Choctaw basket making
- Vitamin Cea, hip hop
- DevMacc, hip hop
- Phingaprint, hip hop
- J. Janice Coleman, quilting
- James “Super Chikan Johnson,” Delta blues and instrument making
- Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Bentonia blues
- Keith Johnson, blues
- La Nueva Generación, huapango huasteco
- Lucy Isadora and Justin Ransburg, punk zine making
- The Mighty Gospel Warriors, gospel
- Motor Mouse Motorcycle Club, motorcycle club
- Hammer & the Tools, punk music
- Hartle Road, punk music
- Bad Anxiety, punk music
- Sew Every Wednesday, quilting
- Stephany Brown, quilting
- Tougaloo College Choir, gospel
- The Wilkins Sisters, gospel
Other artists will travel in from states including Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and more.
For a full list of artists and schedule of events, visit the National Folk Festival website.
Where will the stages be?
Artists will perform on six stages spread throughout a 10-block, pedestrian-only area in Downtown Jackson stretching from State Street to Farish Street and from Pascagoula Street to Yazoo Street.
The six stage locations are as follows:
- Ergon/Alliant Stage: intersection of Capitol and State Streets, in front of the Old Capitol Museum
- Visit Mississippi Stage: on Capitol Street between Lamar and Farish Streets
- StateStreet Group Stage: intersection of Yazoo and President Streets
- Community Foundation for Mississippi/W.K. Kellogg Foundation Family Stage: Smith Park
- Mississippi Folklife Stage: Old Capitol Museum Green
What else is there to do?
Beyond the musical and dance performances, the National Folk Festival offers a range of activities for guests of all ages.
The festival will offer a variety of local and international cuisine, with several vendors from Mississippi. Food courts are located in four different areas spread throughout the 10-block radius in Downtown Jackson.
Food and merchandise vendors will open at 5 p.m. on Friday and at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The LocaliQ/Clarion Ledger Festival Marketplace in front of the Governor’s Mansion will feature quilts, pottery, jewelry, woodwork and more from 20 Mississippi and Deep South artists.
Vendors in the marketplace will open an hour before the festival each day.
The City With Soul Mississippi Folklife Demonstration Area on the Old Capitol Museum Green will showcase music, crafts, foodways and other integral pieces of Mississippi’s cultural heritage.
Street performances will take place on Capitol and Congress Streets and near the family area at Amite and West Streets.
Got a news tip? Contact Mary Boyte at mboyte@jackson.gannett.com
