Folkmoot Festival

Performer from Hawaii

Staff Reports

The 29th Folkmoot Festival takes place July 18-29 all over Western North Carolina. Folkmoot performances can be seen in 14 towns, including Maggie Valley, Clyde, Cherokee, Waynesville, Asheville, Hendersonville, Franklin, and Burnsville. A full calendar of all public performances is available at www.FolkmootUSA.org.

Dancers and musicians in colorful traditional costumes from New Zealand, France, Belgium, Indonesia, Peru, Philippines, Serbia, Puerto Rico, and Ukraine, as well as the state of Hawaii, are expected to appear in more than 70 performances during the two-week event.

International Festival Day will be held July 21, the first Saturday of the Folkmoot Festival. Coupled with Folkmoot’s Parade of Nations on Friday, July 20, and Waynesville’s Friday Night Street Dance that evening, it will make for an active weekend.

The Folkmoot 4.01-K Race and Kids Fun Run take place Saturday, July 14, a full week before the Folkmoot Festival begins. The race course includes Waynesville’s Main Street.

The Gala Preview Performance and Reception for donors and sponsors of the Festival will be held at Maggie Valley’s Stompin’ Ground on Thursday, July 19. Anyone can attend this exclusive all-group performance that is filmed each year. DVDs of the Gala Preview Performance will be offered for sale during the Festival. For a Friends of Folkmoot membership of $150, patrons receive two tickets; 4 tickets for $250; 6 tickets for $500; or 8 tickets for $1,000.

While there are more than 300 international festivals like Folkmoot USA across the globe, Folkmoot is one of only two similar international festivals in the United States. Folkmoot was designated North Carolina’s Official International Festival by Senate Bill S.B. 840 and has been “One of the Top Twenty Events in the Southeast” by the Southeast Tourism Society for 21 years.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to www.FolkmootUSA.org or call 877-FolkUSA (877-365-5872).