For the second year, the North Carolina Folk Festival will take residence in downtown Greensboro, September 6-8. The weekend of free entertainment will feature musical performers from around the world, activities, arts, food trucks – and many UNC Greensboro participants.
Take a stroll down Spartan Way (which runs from the corner of Friendly and Davie to the corner of Summit and Lindsay), visit the UNCG Instrument Petting Zoo, enjoy the Nanobus and Art Truck, participate in team-building activities, and catch some tunes by alumni and students on stages both big and small.
As a pre-festival kickoff event, alumna and musician Laurelyn Dossett will host a gathering of folk musicians Thursday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m., at the Van Dyke Performance Space in the Greensboro Cultural Center.
At the festival’s opening night, Friday, Sept. 6, Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. will speak at CityStage at 6:45 p.m., preceding performances by The Allen Boys and Booker T. Jones.
For complete information about the NC Folk Festival, visit ncfolkfestival.com.
View the schedule of ASL-interpreted performances at this link.
Saturday Spartan events:
The UNCG “Bands of Sparta” Pep Band kicks off Saturday morning, at 11:30 a.m. at CityStage.
Catch alumni Kevin Dollar and Keith Buckner with The Minor Swing Band at Deep Roots Market at 12:30 p.m., or at Joymongers Brewing at 4:30 p.m.
At 1:15 p.m., Laurelyn Dossett will participate in “Raising Her Voice: Women Songwriters in the Round” at Lee Wrangler Stage.
Alumna Kate Musselwhite Tobey will perform with her group, Cicada, at Moore Music Company at 12:30 p.m., Joymongers Brewing at 2:30 p.m., and Scuppernong Books at 4:30 p.m.
Alumnus Dom-Sebastian Alexis will perform in a BBoy/HipHop workshop at the Van Dyke Performance Space at 3:45 p.m.
Reliably Bad, with current UNCG students, will perform at the Family Stage at 4 p.m.
Sunday Spartan events:
Catch alumni in The Zinc Kings at 12:30 p.m. at the Flat Iron, or at 2:30 p.m. at Antlers and Astronauts.
The Alley Rabbits, with several alumni, will perform at Preyer Brewing at 12:30 p.m.
Reliably Bad returns to the Family Stage at 3 p.m.
Want to volunteer?
UNCG invites faculty, staff, students, alumni, and all other Spartans to be Spartan Way Ambassadors, spreading Spartan spirit at the festival.
Volunteers will greet festival attendees and provide UNCG “swag” to festival attendees, encourage social media posts, and survey visitors. Volunteers will receive a free T-shirt to wear during their shift and keep afterward.
Organizers need staff and faculty volunteers to check-in student and alumni volunteers, staff UNCG tents, greet visitors, and assist with various activities. Sign up at go.uncg.edu/ncff-spartans.
Alumni, parents, and other members of the UNCG community may also sign up at go.uncg.edu/ncff-spartans.
Students can earn service hours by volunteering at this event. Here is the Spartan Way volunteer registration form for students: go.uncg.edu/ncff-students.
Get social:
Take a picture for the UNCG festival video board on Spartan Way and at the Spiro selfie spot at Center City Park, and make sure to tag your pictures #SayG and #UNCGWay. Are you a Snapchat user? Look for the Spartan Way geofilter.
Story by Susan Kirby-Smith, University Communications
Photography by Martin W. Kane, University Communications
