The City of Jackson is preparing to host the 82nd annual National Folk Festival, a three-day event to be held downtown November 7-9. The free-to-attend festival, the first of a three-year residency in Jackson, will bring around 300 artists, musicians, dancers and storytellers together for a weekend celebrating traditions such as blues, bluegrass and go-go music.

“This moment is especially thrilling because it represents not just a lineup of remarkable performers but the beginning of something truly transformative for our city, a cultural legacy in the making,” said Jackson’s first lady Ebony Lumumba, chair of the executive committee for the National Folk Festival Jackson.

“For the next three years, Jackson will be home to one of the oldest and most celebrated cultural festivals in the nation, and that means that we are planting artistic and economic seeds that will blossom into something extraordinary for our residents, our artists, our young people and visitors from all over the world,” she said.

The National Folk Festival was created in 1934 and has traveled nationwide. With an anticipated 60,000 to 80,000 visitors in its first year, the event is expected to grow to welcome more than 150,000 people to the Capital City. The festival will stimulate economic growth in Jackson, with other host cities seeing $15 million to $30 million dollars of long-term annual impact by the end of its third year, said Blaine Waide, executive director of the National Council for the Traditional Arts. 

On Wednesday, Waide and other key partners in the festival announced the first performers added to the lineup. Artists include sacred steel guitar band The Campbell Brothers, go-go group E.U. featuring Sugar Bear, and Mississippi-born, Chicago-based John Primer & The Real Deal Blues Band. Bluegrass singer Dale Ann Bradley, Irish artist Eileen Ivers, flamenco couple LOS RICOS featuring Sonia and Ismael, bomba band Plena Libre and the South Asian ensemble Riyaaz Qawwali will also perform.

Over the next coming months, more will be announced, including dancers, craftspeople and storytellers, leading to approximately 300 artists tapped to participate. Applications are open for food and market place vendors. The deadline to apply is May 19.

Thabi Moyo, local festival organizer, said that it’s not just a big weekend, but a promising opportunity for Jackson and Mississippi. Jackson was selected out of 42 cities that applied to host the festival.

“Mississippi has been at the National Folk Festival, but this is the first time that it’s come to the Deep South, but Mississippi has always been represented,” Moyo said. “That right there to me speaks to the influence of the type of music and culture, arts and culture and impact that we’ve had because it’s already out in the world and people love it.”

In addition to the National Folk Festival, Moyo has been hosting Folk After 5 at Hal and Mal’s restaurant, which will be held every first Thursday leading up the the festival. Visitors can enjoy folk music played by a live DJ, and meet with organizers and learn more about the festival. 

“I wanted to create a space that’s low stakes, that’s easy, where you can come engage with folks who are involved with making the festival happen,” Moyo said.

Waide said that Mississippi is the perfect place to host the National Folk Festival due to its cultural influence and legacy of creating history-making entertainers. 

“It’s the home of Robert Johnson, Jimmie Rodgers, Pops Staples. You’ve got country music, blues music, gospel music,” Waide said. “… American musical history would not be what it is without the state of Mississippi, so it’s an appropriate place to have this festival.”