Mayor Jake Day is pleased to announce, on behalf of the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) and the City of Salisbury, the Honorary Chairs for the National Folk Festival in Salisbury, Maryland. Graciously accepting the invitation to serve are Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and First Lady Yumi Hogan, and Perdue Farms Chairman Jim Perdue and his wife, Jan Perdue.
The National Folk Festival will begin its residency in Salisbury in 2018. The annual, three-day event will take place September 7th, 8th, and 9th in and throughout the City’s Downtown. Presented to audiences free of charge, the Festival is known as a “moveable feast of deeply traditional folk arts.” Over the course of its annual 3-day run, the National Folk Festival will present an exciting and diverse panoply of music, dance and cultural traditions from across America.
“It is an honor and a pleasure for me to announce that our good friends, Governor and Mrs. Hogan, and Jim and Jan Perdue will serve as the Honorary Chairs for the National Folk Festival during its time here in Salisbury,” said Mayor Jake Day. “With the Festival coming home to Maryland for the first time in its 80-year history, it is so perfectly appropriate that the Governor and First Lady have graciously agreed to co-chair. And I can think of no one better to represent the Eastern Shore than the Perdue family. We are thankful and appreciative that the Governor and First Lady, and the Perdues will join us as we celebrate the folk arts here in our beautiful Downtown.”
“The support and enthusiasm with which the State of Maryland, the City and the entire region have embraced the National Folk Festival is just incredible,” said NCTA Executive Director Julia Olin. “We look forward to a smashing three-year run in Salisbury.”
For more information on the National Folk Festival, go to www.NationalFolkFestivalMD.com
To hear a special message from the Hogan and Perdue families, click here: https://youtu.be/2UHMLlFa2Ww
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About the National Folk Festival
Since it was first presented in St. Louis in 1934, the National Folk Festival, the NCTA’s flagship event, has celebrated the roots, richness and variety of American culture.
Championed in its early years by Eleanor Roosevelt, it was the first event of national stature to present the arts of many nations, races, and languages on equal footing. It was also the first to present to the public musical forms such as the blues, Cajun music, a polka band, Tex-Mex conjunto, Peking Opera, and many others. Today, the National is an exuberant traveling festival, produced by the NCTA in partnership with communities around the country that embraces the diverse cultural expressions that define us as a people in the 21st century.
About the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA)
A leading non-profit in the field, the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA), is dedicated to the presentation and documentation of folk and traditional arts in the U.S. Stressing excellence and authenticity, the NCTA presents the nation’s finest traditional artists in major festivals, tours, concerts, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions, media productions, school programs, cross-cultural exchanges and other activities. It works in partnership with American communities to establish new, sustainable traditional arts events that deliver lasting social, cultural and economic benefits. Over 6,000 hours of the NCTA’s archival audio recordings dating from the 1930s are permanently housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The NCTA champions the interests of folk and traditional artists and organizations in the arena of public policy. For more information about the NCTA, go to www.ncta-usa.org
About the City of Salisbury, Maryland
Founded in 1732, Salisbury is the county seat of Wicomico County, a place where John Smith touched land in 1608 during his exploration of the Chesapeake Bay. Situated on Maryland’s historic Eastern Shore at the crossroads of the Delmarva Peninsula, Salisbury is now one of the region’s largest cities, and serves as the capital of the Eastern Shore, a rural area defined by its agricultural and maritime traditions, landscapes and industries. The Chesapeake Bay is central to this distinctive identity. Though a relatively small city, Salisbury is the geographic and economic hub of one of the nation’s fastest-growing Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Led by a dynamic mayor, the City of Salisbury is working to build its reputation as an arts and culture destination, and is aligning its downtown development and revitalization efforts with the arts. Salisbury believes hosting the National Folk Festival is the perfect catalyst to further a cultural renaissance and urban renewal.
Find more information about Salisbury, Maryland at www.salisbury.md
