44th Annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival

The theme for the 44th Annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival, “The Old Songs Live Forever,” will celebrate how Louisiana’s folklife – its unique crafts, food, music, and culture – are alive and well. Held on Saturday July 20 in air-conditioned Prather Coliseum on the Northwestern State University campus in Natchitoches, the Festival will feature three stages of music, the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship, Cajun and zydeco dance lessons, folk food vendors, exhibits, traditional blacksmithing, and a jambalaya cookoff. Regional crafts such as beadwork, quilts, Native American baskets, Czech pysanky eggs, and handmade filé will be exhibited during day long demonstrations by over 70 traditional craft persons. Music headliners include Sonny Gullage and the Blues Groovers, the Forest Huval Cajun Band, Johnny Earthquake and the Moondogs, Brandon Degeyter and The Mire Playboys, and the Zion Harmonizers. The Festival will also feature fiddler Clancey Stewart leading free square dance lessons, a special performance by Grupo de Danza Folklórica Mexicana Ketzaly, and a musical patriotic tribute by the Victory Belles performing World War II-era songs in three-part harmony. Narrative sessions will feature discussions on Delta music, Day of the Dead celebrations, music preservation, Native American traditional songs and dances, and Louisiana French narratives, as well as music informances by Sonny Gullage and the Blues Groovers and the Zion Harmonizers. Children 12 and younger admitted free. Vive la Louisiane!