West Virginia State Folk Festival
Music, Heritage, and Appalachian Culture
June 20-23, 2024
More information regarding our 2023 Music Events TBA soon!
Over 50 Fiddle and Banjo Contests--Friday, information TBA
Under 50 Fiddle and Banjo Contests--Saturday, information TBA
The West Virginia State Folk Festival is the place to come and be a part of West Virginia traditional music. The region was home to such legends as Melvin Wine, Doc White, Lee Triplett, Phoebe Parsons, Jenes Cottrill, Sylvia O'Brien, Harvey Sampson, Ernie Carpenter, Ira Mullins, Noah Cottrill, Wilson Douglas . . . the list goes on and on. While these musicians are no longer with us, their music lives on through the others who learned from them.
While one might hear the occasional bluegrass jam session in town during the Folk Festival, the festival itself is truly about old-time music. The Friday and Saturday evening concerts feature old-time fiddle, clawhammer banjo, ballad singing, and both hammered dulcimer and mountain dulcimer. The fiddle and banjo contests are judged not only on the contestants' abilities, but also on the appropriateness of their selections for a traditional music festival.
The "organized" music at the festival includes fiddle and banjo contests on Friday and Saturday afternoons, and concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings. Both of these events take place in the Glenville State College Fine Arts Auditorium. There is no charge for admission, but donations are gladly accepted.
John Morris at the 2013 Festival