What Can You Do at the Folk Festival?
The goal of the Festival is to encourage you to participate in the joy of playing music, singing, and dancing. Many of our activities are hands-on, and we hope you'll join in. Here are some of the things you can do:
Learn something new!
One of the things that makes the Albuquerque Folk Festival so unusual is the incredible variety of workshops available. Musicians and dancers delight in sharing their love for what they do with you!
- If you play an instrument, or would like to get started with one, we have dozens of workshops from bodhran to dulcimer with an emphasis on getting beginners started (and yes, we have more common instruments like guitar, banjo, fiddle, sometimes even kazoo!).
- Prefer to move your feet to the music? You can learn about square dancing, contra dancing, waltz, folklórico, Irish ceili and Scottish country dance, Hawaiian, and international folk dance throughout the day.
Sing!
There are outside singing workshops all day. If you just want to sing, check out our Sing-Along tent. And be sure to come to our 5:00 pm Sing-Along on the Courtyard Stage! We'll provide the lyrics, and you provide the voices!
Jam!
We have two formal (well, as formal as jamming gets) venues for jamming at the festival. At the hosted jam tent, a different host every hour will keep things moving, encourage everyone's participation, and perhaps influence tune selection. At the Jam with the Band venue, you can play along with bands that you just heard on stage.
But nobody says jamming has to be confined to the jamming tents! There always seem to be informal groups playing around the grounds.
Remember: it's easy to bring an instrument to the festival! We provide a free instrument checkroom all day so you can store your instrument safely.
Dance!
Dance all day at the dance workshops, and then continue on into the evening with international folk dancing.
Explore!
Spend the whole day exploring different kinds of music and dance at the Festival, but be sure to spend some time at our Instrument Petting Zoo where you can explore dozens of different instruments.
Perform!
The Sign-Up Stage, a centrally-located venue where any performer (musical bands, individuals, dancers, singers, etc.) can sign up on a first-come, first-serve basis, will be running from 3:30 - 6pm in the Wells Fargo Auditorium. For more info: Sign-Up Stage.
Have some fun in a friendly competition, get a chance to play on stage, and maybe win a ribbon: sign up for the Band Scramble, where you'll be assigned to a random motley group of people and have less than an hour to come up with a band name and a couple of tunes, before performing those tunes on stage.
Bring the kids!
Along with a special venue with activities aimed at children, kids are welcome throughout the festival. The ever-popular Instrument Petting Zoo presented by Planet Music is back this year; kids of all ages can try out different instruments.
Kids 11 and under can come to the festival for free! And admission for kids from 12 to 18 is only $10 ($5 in advance). Plus, we have a great family rate: $50 at the gate for two adults and any number of children 0-18 ($30 for one adult and kids). The Folk Festival is an inexpensive day-long activity for the whole family.
Enjoy the music!
Our five stages feature a great mix of performers this year and will be rocking all day and into the evening on Sunday. Featured acts include Maryna Krut, April Verch & Cody Walters, The Consequences, Alejandro Brittes Trio and many more.
Listen to stories
Some of the best regional storytellers will entertain you all day.
Win!
You can help the Festival and have a chance to win a quilt, a resonator guitar, four hours of recording time, signed balloon prints, and a balloon jacket by entering our annual fundraising raffle. Buy a few raffle tickets at the Fundraising table inside the Roy E. Disney Center for Performing Arts...you can't win if you don't enter!
You might also win prizes by filling out a feedback form. Feedback is very important to the Festival, so we want to encourage you to let us know what you think. If you fill out a form, you'll be automatically entered into a drawing for a variety of prizes.
And, finally, you could win the Band Scramble. Team up with a few randomly chosen musicians, singers, and dancers, and wow (and/or bribe) the judges with your band's name and performance.
Shop!
You can find all kinds of delightful things! So allow a little time (and money) for checking out the vendors' wares as well as the Consignment booth.
Sell!
Do you have some musical instruments that you aren't using? Help the Festival, help yourself, and declutter your instrument collection: bring those instruments to the Festival to sell at our consignment sales table (nothing over $500). You get 80% of the proceeds, you get to donate 20% to the Festival, and you'll have room for new instruments!
You can also donate instruments to be sold at the consignment sales table, so 100% of the proceeds go to the Festival. Remember, the Festival is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, so the donation is tax deductible.
OR, are you looking to buy an instrument? Be sure to check the consignment sales table! You might find a great deal and you'll be helping the Festival: 20% of the sales price is donated to the Folk Festival. We accept cash, checks, and credit cards. Please pick up your instruments or proceeds by 4 pm.
Eat!
As usual, we'll have a great selection of food vendors...there should be something for everyone's taste.
Help us out!
If you want to get even more actively involved in the Festival, we can always use volunteers. If you'd like to get involved and work for a few hours at the Festival, see our Volunteers page for more information.
To sum it all up, here's what's in the works for 2024:
- Performances by great national, regional, and local bands
- A folk dance in the evening
- Music Workshops
- Dance Workshops
- Singing Workshops
- Instrument Petting Zoo
- Band Scramble
- Storytelling
- Vendors
- Hosted Jams and Jam with the Band
- Free Parking
- Giant puppets
- Bike locking stations and free bike valet
- Food Trucks
- Consignment Sales
- Raffle
- Free Instrument Check
- Shaded eating areas
- Beer and Wine
