Florida Folk Festival – the Show Must Go On … and It Did

The 55^th Annual Florida Folk Festival at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, held last weekend after nearby wildfires cancelled the traditional Memorial Day weekend event, was a tremendous success. As Florida’s premier heritage event, the festival continued a grand tradition celebrating Florida’s land, people and diverse cultural heritage with more than 200 performances each day by Florida’s greatest folk and roots artists.

This year, American war veterans, prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action were honored as DEP Secretary Michael W. Sole joined Rolling Thunder, Inc., and the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs with a ceremonial raising of the POW-MIA flag. In a statewide commemorative effort, Rolling Thunder, Inc. has provided the POW-MIA flags to all 161 Florida State Parks.

The “Cattle Ranching” theme provided visitors with a glimpse of life in Florida during the 16th century. Cultural masters performed demonstrations and presented workshops on traditional and contemporary crafts. Visitors tried their hand at playing the mandolin, telling stories, making pine needle baskets, square dancing and learned the importance of native plant and animal species. Continuing tradition, a diverse menu including collard greens and cornbread, chicken pilau and Hoppin’ John, shrimp gumbo, barbecue, curries, gyros and lime fizzes was consumed with Southern satisfaction.

One of the main attractions of the three-day festival, and a big reason for its lasting popularity, is its unparalleled performers. National recording artists, award winning song-writers and musicians from an array of genres including swing, folk, blues, gospel, country, Latin, jazz, bluegrass, Caribbean and zydeco entertained the large crowd. The Tony Rice Unit headlined the festival, while festival favorites Frank Thomas and Bobby Hicks shared the top musical billing. Rounding out the list were the Peyton Brothers, Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues, the Aaron O'Rourke Trio, Willie Green, Gabe Valla, Magda Hiller, Blind Willie James and Sam Pacetti.

The Sunshine State’s most popular annual heritage event brought a river of talent and entertainment to the tranquil shores of the Suwannee River in White Springs, Florida. And for the 55th consecutive year, the festival was a weekend not soon to be forgotten by the thousands who attended the historical event.