The North Carolina Folk Festival debuted in downtown Greensboro in 2018 following three years of the city hosting the National Folk Festival. The national festival, which is put on by the National Council for the Traditional Arts, relocates every three years with the objective of spawning a local festival in the locations it leaves.
We attended all three National Folk Festivals in Greensboro, including the 2015 festival featuring Mavis Staples, above, and the inaugural N.C. Folk Festival. Each attracted a large, diverse and orderly crowd. When ArtsGreensboro took over the festival, they said it would be much like its predecessor and, except for moving a few things around, there was little difference. So, some of the photos below are from National Folk Festivals.
Stages are erected on large parking lots or in the street chiefly along North Davie and Elm Streets, and plastic chairs are set out for the audience, like at the Belk Stage (the main stage), below. Because it is an urban festival with stages spread out over several blocks, the plastic chairs make the day easier than it would be if folks had to haul camp chairs around. Food vendors (including wine and beer sales) are set up next to each stage area, which provides different options at each stop.
Below, the Belk Stage area from across the street outside the News & Record building.
The long row of arts and craft vendors' tents lined Elm Street toward the Wrangler Stage in 2018. We happened to be walking by a few paces behind the festival's star performer and curator Rhiannon Giddens, far right in the second photo below.
The Lawn Stage at Bellmeade Avenue and Greene Street is under a huge tent, which inevitably cannot hold the entire audience. (It was much more crowded than the photo shows when we were there.)
The Dance Pavilion (in photos from different years below) is in a parking lot at the corner of Davie and Hughes streets.
Here's Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas in the dance tent. The tent has a large wooden dance floor that many couples made use of.
Seagrove potter Sid Luck demonstrates his craft below.
In addition to what's above, the Family Stage and children's activity area were at Summit Avenue and Lindsay Street, somewhat sequestered from the heart of the festival. Because the festival is spread over about a 10-block-square area, getting from one stage to another may require walking a block or two through areas where often nothing festival-related is going on other than the moving crowd. Some stage locations change from year to year, as happens with many festivals.
Instead of trying to find parking downtown, we took advantage of free parking at Memorial Stadium, which is east of the festival site and within walking distance, and was served by a free city bus dedicated to festival attendees. A second bus ran from parking at Greensboro Coliseum, west of the festival.
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