Philadelphia Folk Festival

The Philadelphia Folk Festival is a folk music festival held annually at Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia.[1]

Philadelphia Folk Festival
GenreFolk, Country, Blues, Folk rock
Datesfour days on the third week of August
Location(s)Upper Salford Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Years activeSince 1962
WebsiteOfficial website

The four-night, three-day festival, which is produced and run by the non-profit Philadelphia Folksong Society and staffed almost entirely by volunteers.[2]

The event hosts contemporary and traditional artists in genres under the umbrella of Folk, including World/Fusion, Celtic, Singer/Songwriter, Folk Rock, Country, Klezmer, Blues, Bluegrass, Hip/Hop, Spoken Word, Storytelling, and Dance.

Gene Shay and folklorist Kenneth S. Goldstein[3] founded the festival, along with George Britton, Bob Seigel, David Baskin, Esther Halpern, and others. Shay has acted as Master of Ceremonies since its inception and Goldstein served as Program Director for the first 15 years.[4]

Originally held on Wilson Farm in Paoli, Pennsylvania,[5] each year the event hosts over 35,000 visitors and nearly 7,000 campers at the Old Pool Farm.[6] The event presents over 75 hours of music with local, regional, and national talent on its stages. A special Camp Stage show takes place on Thursday night, hosted by WXPN radio for the nationally syndicated World Cafe with David Dye.[6]

The Philadelphia Folksong Society presents the Philadelphia Folk Festival and has a full-time, year-round staff.[7] The current PFS Executive Director is Justin Nordell since 2007, while past E.D.s include Lauri Barish and Levi Landis.

This festival went online in 2020 and 2021, raising over $200,000 to support artists out of work, as live concerts were cancelled caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Festival will return as a hybrid event live and in person for 2022.

See also

References
  1. "Philadelphia Folk Festival Archives - Page 4 of 4 - The Key". The Key. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  2. "Philadelphia Folk Festival - Philadelphia Folksong Society". Philadelphia Folksong Society. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
  3. Pareles, Jon (15 November 1995). "Kenneth S. Goldstein Dies at 68; Folklore Teacher and Collector". Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
  4. "Philadelphia Folk Festival: A Short History", That Music Magazine.
  5. "When the Philadelphia Folk Festival Was Held in Paoli" Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society History Quarterly Digital Archives.
  6. "Folk On Folk: Ian Zolitor of WXPN’s Folk Show recaps the Philadelphia Folk Fest", The Key, WXPN.
  7. "Philadelphia Folk Festival", Visit Philadelphia.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.