The National Folk Festival is a chance to celebrate our country’s vast forms of traditional culture. In addition to music and dance, it is also an ideal way to experience a number of traditional games, crafts, storytelling and ethnic food. Just a sampling of what awaits this year’s visitors...
Performers

What They Say

Traditional Crafts

Folk Arts Marketplace
Vendors invited to participate in the National Folk Festival’s "Folk Arts Marketplace" sell authentic traditional arts or related items rarely available in any stores or other festivals. Vendors include past participants in state and regional folklife festivals, apprenticeship and award programs, and other activities of the Smithsonian, Michigan State University Museum, and upper Midwest regional state-funded folk arts programs.

Workshops

New this year -- people interested in learning the skill and artistry involved in traditional crafts have the opportunity to learn first-hand from the masters. Selected artists will be offering hands-on workshops Friday afternoon, from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. For more information, please contact Julie Hartley, 517/353-4574.

Food

This year’s National Folk Festival will showcase the foods of various ethnic, religious, and regional groups in the Taste of Traditions Food Court. Special foods help to reinforce and maintain group and family identity and become the focus of celebrations, holidays, or rites of passage. Many foods at this summer’s festival were brought to the U.S. from other countries, and have been adapted through the generations to fit their new environment. Traditional cooks will be serving:

  • Native American
  • Armenian-American
  • Greek-American
  • Polish-American
  • Maltese-American
  • Caribbean
  • Southern barbecue
  • pasties from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
  • traditional American favorites (hot dogs, hamburgers and french fries)

Taste of Traditions

TASTE OF TRADITION FOOD COURT
What we eat says a great deal about who we are and where we came from. Vendors invited to participate in the National Folk Festival’s "Taste of Traditions Food Court" offer traditional foods closely linked to their ethnicity or region. This list gives us a glimpse of some of the treats available at this year’s festival.

Crossroads Stage

TRADITIONS OF DRESS AND BODY ART: WHAT WE WEAR
What are you wearing right now and what do your clothes and hair say about who you are? Clothing and body art are forms of self-expression and creativity. At this year’s National Folk Festival there will be a series of special "Talk Shows" on the Crossroads Stage and ongoing demonstrations on how we use clothes, hair style, cosmetics, jewelry, tattooing, and piercing and painting our bodies to let others know who we are and about our values, beliefs, and the groups we belong to, have status in, or even reject.
Today, more than ever before, our choices about how we look are influenced by media and worldwide travel. As we rediscover ourselves, we mix traditional, new, and alternative clothing styles and body art. At the festival this year, we hope you will learn about many different clothing and body art traditions as well as take time to think about your own traditions.
TALK SHOWS AND DEMONSTRATIONS ON CROSSROADS STAGE

ONGOING DEMONSTRATIONS

Festival Fun For Kids!

The National Folk Festival is a chance for families to celebrate our country’s rich forms of traditional culture. In addition to music and dance, it is also an excellent opportunity to experience a number of traditional games, crafts, storytelling and food.

Children have a world of fun to explore in the Children’s Folk Activities Area...

CHILDREN’S FOLK ACTIVITIES AREA
At the National Folk Festival, in a program area coordinated by the Michigan State University Museum, children (and their adult companions) can participate in a variety of games (hopscotch, double-Dutch jump rope, horse, bouncing-ball games, counting-out games, hand games, and string- figure games), and other hands-on activities related to Great Lakes traditions.
This year, in keeping with a special emphasis on clothing and body art traditions, a variety of fun, participatory, and educational activities are planned for youth. Special programs, exhibits, and demonstrations (see below) will also be featured.

More about…

Craft Make & Take

  • Arts & crafts like those for sale in the Folk Arts Marketplace
  • Traditional paper activities (such as paper airplanes, paper boats, cootie catchers, origami, and paper snowflakes)
  • Carnival costumes to wear in the Saturday afternoon parade

Great Lakes, Great Quilts

ABOUT GREAT LAKES, GREAT QUILTS

MORE ABOUT QUILTING…

Games

  • Native American moccasin game
  • Marbles & Jacks
  • Jump-rope
  • Bouncing ball games
  • Hopscotch
  • Counting rhyme and hand-clapping games
  • Board Games

The Children’s Folk Activities Area also features cultural demonstrations & storytelling

Traditional Games
Traditional games are played throughout the world, by individuals and groups of all ages, with formal or informal rules, and at homes, schools, work, and a variety of community settings. Traditional games are most often learned by observing and participating in a game; teachers are most often a parent or other familiar adult, a sibling, or a friend.
Games play a critical role in fostering and maintaining ethnic and group identity, acquiring physical and intellectual skills, learning cultural knowledge, and developing and negotiating social relationships.
Traditional Card Games and Native American Games are featured at this year’s National Folk Festival. Many more games will be available in the Children’s Folk Arts Festival section of the festival.