National Folk Festival Bids Farewell to Bangor

The National Folk Festival ends its 3-year residency in Bangor, ME with concerts, workshops, dances and more Aug. 27-29. Performers include Harmonia, Solas, Jerry Douglas, The Campbell Brothers, Cape Breton Kitchen Party, Vishten, Pinetop Perkins, and Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca. The National Folk Festival, which is a program of the National Council for the Traditional Arts, premiered in 1934 and has been held in 27 communities across the country. Each city hosts the festival for three years in the hopes of building a tradition of presenting folk music, dance and arts in an effort to preserve the cultural heritage of America. The National Folk Festival was the first such music festival to bring together a variety of ethnic traditions and is credited with creating the idea of folklore workshops.