National Folk Festival

An LESMD Regional Event

Beginning in 1934, The National Folk Festival is one of America’s largest, most prestigious and longest-running celebrations of arts, culture, and heritage. The National Council for the Arts (NCTA) selects one city from among applicants around the country to co-host the officially sanctioned event for three consecutive years. Consistent with the NCTA mission of laying the groundwork for sustainable, locally produced festivals, a number of cities have gone on to leverage the infrastructure and experience gained from hosting the festival to produce an annual spin-off, or “legacy festival”, of their own.

Salisbury was selected by the NCTA to host the event in 2018-2022. According to the National Folk Festival BEACON report (Salisbury University) 2021 annual attendance was approximately 91,000 with the overall economic impact reaching $19.8M (source: National Folk Festival BEACON Report). It is estimated that 38% of attendees were visitors from outside of the local region. This success has led the City of Salisbury to make plans for its own legacy festival in the future.