The Lowell Folk Festival is the longest-running, and second-largest, free folk festival in the United States. Only Seattle's

Northwest Folklife Northwest Folklife is an independent 501(c)(3) arts organization that celebrates the multigenerational arts, cultures, and traditions of a global Pacific Northwest. The Northwest Folklife Festival is an annual festival of ethnic, folk, and tradit ...

is larger, both in attendance and number of performance stages. It is made up of three days of traditional music, dance, craft demonstrations, street

parades A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of ...

, dance parties, and ethnic foods. All of this is presented on six outdoor stages throughout the city of

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

. It is one of many festivals in the U.S. that originated from the National Folk Festival. Lowell hosted the event from 1987 to 1989, and the locals continued this festival starting in 1990. The festival is held from Friday through Sunday on the last full weekend of July each year, and is presented by

Lowell National Historical Park Lowell National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of the United States located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Established in 1978 a few years after Lowell Heritage State Park, it is operated by the National Park Service and comprises a g ...

, Lowell Festival Foundation, the

National Council for the Traditional Arts The National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) is a private, non-profit arts organization based in the United States that promotes the traditional arts. It organizes the National Folk Festival. It is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryl ...

, the City of Lowell, the Greater Merrimack Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce. In 2020, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

caused the 34th festival to be cancelled. The 2021 festival was also cancelled, with the next festival being announced for July 29–31, 2022.

References

External links

* 1990 establishments in Massachusetts Folk festivals in the United States Music festivals established in 1990 Music festivals in Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Lowell, Massachusetts {{Music-festival-stub