The inaugural Maryland Folk Festival kicks off this weekend Sept. 22-24 in Downtown Salisbury with music, dance and other traditional arts across four performance stages, a Maryland Traditions Folklife Area, a festival marketplace and food court

The festival opens Friday at 6:30 p.m. with The Quebe Sisters, a western swing group, and runs through Sunday. Admission is free.  

The festival, sponsored by Perdue Farms, follows five years of the National Folk Festival in Salisbury, which was produced in collaboration with the National Council for the Traditional Arts. The festival features hundreds of the nation’s finest musicians, dancers, craftspeople and other keepers of culture. 

“We have an outstanding lineup planned for this year’s festival, and we can’t wait to welcome everyone to Downtown Salisbury,” said Caroline O’Hare, events and culture manager with the City of Salisbury’s Arts, Business and Culture Department. “Come out and explore new genres of music and learn about the many longtime traditions that make up our region and country.”   

Throughout the festival, there will be a variety of food vendors, along with the Downtown restaurants and businesses. Shop from juried vendors in the Festival Marketplace, sponsored by Mat & Barrie Tilghman.  

Performances will be across four stages: The Perdue Dance Stage on Division Street in front of the Government Office Building, the Main Street Stage on East Main Street near Baptist Street, the Salisbury University Locals Stage on West Main Street near Market Street and the Maryland Traditions Folklife State on Circle Avenue.

This year’s performers include many from the Lower Shore and across Maryland, including blues artist Chris English, John Wesley Wright and the Spiritual Ensemble, and hip-hop artist C-Mack, all of Salisbury. Other performers include a Polish polka band, a Spanish flamenco dance company and Egyptian music and dance.

 Festival Hours

 The festival opens on Friday at 6 p.m. and closes at 9:30 p.m. Hours on Saturday are noon to 9:30 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

Food vendors will open at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, and at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

 Admission

 Admission is free, but festival-goers are asked to make donations. A group of volunteers known as the Bucket Brigade will be circulating asking for support. The suggested donation is $10 per person per day.

 Free parking 

Multiple metered & permit parking lots are available downtown and free of charge. Designated handicap parking spaces are available in all city lots and the Downtown parking garage. 

•         Lot 1 (Lower), West Market Street
•         Lot 4, Church Street
•         Lot 7, Lemmon Hill Lane
•         Lot 10, East Church Street & Poplar Hill Avenue
•         Lot 11, West Market Street & Circle Avenue
•         Lot 12, West Market Street
•         Lot 13, West Chestnut Street
•         Lot 30, Lake St & W. Main St
•         Lot 33, West Main Street
•         Lot 35, Fitzwater & West Main streets
•         Downtown Parking Garage, East Market Street
•         TidalHealth paved lots, behind TidalHealth, Waverly Drive

 For a festival schedule, map, parking information, accessibility information and more, visit MDFolkFest.com.  

 About the Maryland Folk Festival  

After five years as the host of the National Folk Festival, produced in collaboration with the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the City of Salisbury’s Arts, Business, and Culture Department is proud to launch its own legacy festival.

This large-scale, multi-day outdoor event celebrates the roots, richness and variety of American culture. It features hundreds of the nation’s finest musicians, dancers, craftspeople and other keepers of culture in performances, workshops, and demonstrations, plus children’s activities, non-stop participatory dancing, storytelling and more.