National Folk Festival (Australia)

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The National Folk Festival, "The National" or "The Nash" is a five-day festival celebrating Australian folk culture, held each year on the Easter long weekend at Exhibition Park in Canberra.

[edit] History

The festival was first held in Melbourne in 1967^[1] From 1969 until 1991 the festival traveled to different cities each year. It was hosted at least once in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane, Fremantle, Alice Springs, Perth and Maleny. The increasing size of the festival was making it harder for the hosting states to organise the festival every year, so since 1992 the festival has been held in Canberra. However each year a state is 'featured' which entitles it to a proportionally larger number of entertainers, and discounted tickets for entry.^[2]

[edit] Features

The festival has over 100 concerts, plus numerous impromptu street performances, workshops on making, playing and repairing musical instruments, storytelling and poetry, and dance workshops. There are at least 60 craft stalls, 30+ food vendors and 2 bars. For the 5 days of the festival, there is also an almost continuous Session in the famous "Session Bar", that only stops briefly due to alcohol licence restrictions.

Every night the festival has a grand dance, starting with a Scottish Ball on the Friday night, an Irish Ceili on the Saturday, and an Australian Colonial Ball on the Sunday night.

[edit] Notes

^ Andrews, S. "How our National Folk Festivals started," Victorian Folk Music Club Inc. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
^ "History," National Folk Festival Website. Retrieved 16 January 2009.