The Washington Folk Festival returns! It will be Saturday and Sunday June 3-4 at Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo, MD

Come celebrate the return of summer at the 23rd Annual Washington Folk Festival. The Festival is a showcase for local musicians, dancers, storytellers, and crafters. The audience also gets into the act by participating in jam sessions, dances, and workshops. This all-volunteer event will be held at Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, Maryland, on Saturday June 3 from noon until 10:00 p.m. and on Sunday, June 4 from noon to 6:00 p.m.

About 450 local performers will take part. Featured performers include the United House of Prayer Brass Band; the Slavic Male Chorus of Washington, DC; Sephardic singer Flory Jagoda, Klezmer Band Lox and Vodka, the guitar and vocal duo of Al Petteway and Amy White, Grace Griffith, Lisa Moscatiello, Bruce Hutton and Hesperus, Donal Leace, Magpie, Tom Prasada-Rao, and a new band that has already made a name for itself, Special Ed and His Genetically-Altered Jug Band. Styles of music and dance include Blues, Bluegrass, Country, Celtic, Gospel, Roadhouse, Balkan, Middle Eastern, African, Jewish, jug band, old-timey, ragtime, jazz, Hawaiian, Latin American, Spanish Flamenco, Texas boogie, and swing. New this year is a Songwriters Cabaret on Saturday evening. At the Cabaret, area singer-songwriters will perform and share insights with the audience.

The Festival will feature seven simultaneous performance stages including a storytelling stage where local bards will recount magical tales from all over the world and beyond our universe. There is also a family area, and participatory dance in the Spanish Ballroom. Craft demonstrations and sales will include art glass, wood carvings, Russian folk art engravings, weaving, ceramics, hand-made musical instruments, jewelry made from everything from glass to colored paper, rugs, clothing, paper cutting, herbal soaps, prints, etchings, and watercolors.

The Washington Folk Festival is an all-volunteer event presented by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington (FSGW) in cooperation with the National Park Service. Admission to the festival is free and donations are encouraged.

WAMU Radio, 88.5 FM, is the media sponsor for the festival. The Festival is made possible in part by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Maryland.

For directions, parking information, and information on the Folklore Society of Greater Washington, call the FSGW Hotline at 202.546.2228, or visit the FSGW website at http://www.fsgw.org.

# # # The Folklore Society of Greater Washington is a not-for profit, tax exempt institution that is dedicated to preserving and promoting traditional folk arts in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. We are an all-volunteer organization. For more information about FSGW, call FSGW President Carl Mintz (202) 543-4999.