|
|
 Amphitheatre
Daily throughout the Festival and each evening the Amphitheatre Stage features
Florida's best performers of all types. Folk music, dance, storytelling and
headlining performers reflect a wide variety of music throughout the weekend.
Old Marble Stage
This stage features a variety of musical entertainment all weekend long. Recognized
as one of the Florida Folk Festival's "main" stages the Old Marble
Stage will feature many long-time festival performers each day.
Heritage & Dance Floor Stage
In this venue, visitors not only can watch and listen as traditional folk music
and dances are performed and skills are demonstrated, but they also can learn
them. Throughout the Festival a range of music, dances and skills are taught
at the stage. In the evening, come out and practice what you've learned as the
stage is transformed for dancing under the stars.
Saturday the stage becomes the site of the official Florida State Fiddlers Contest
conducted by the Florida State Fiddlers Association. Contestants are judged
in four categories including Junior, Contemporary, Twin Fiddle and Rustic playing.
Hear the best of the best during the day and listen to the winning fiddlers
perform on the Amphitheater stage Saturday evening.
River Gazebo Stage
This music venue is used as a showcase for those musicians composing songs about
Florida's history, geography and unusual characters. The River Gazebo is very
popular with visitors who come to sit and listen to the pure sounds of unamplified,
original songs about The Sunshine State.
Azalea Stage
Songs, tunes, folklife and humor will be featured at the Azalea Stage. Enjoy
a potpourri of performances during a broad sampling of the diversity of musical
and narrative traditions in the Sunshine State.
"Ee-To-Lit-Ke" Seminole Family Camp and Cheekee-chobee Performance
Stage
We join with our friends from the Seminole Tribe of Florida in welcoming all
of Florida's citizens and visitors to the Seminole Family Camp at the 50th Annual
Florida Folk Festival. Each year, Seminole people come to the Festival to share
their traditions. Built more than 15 years ago and refurbished in 2001, the
palmetto-thatched chickees at the Seminole Family Camp were created to serve
as a base for cultural presentations of Seminole traditional arts, crafts and
foodways. Featured at the Festival are wood carving, beadwork, doll making,
patchwork sewing, sofkee and frybread cooking, and other native skills. Musicians
also gather to sing their songs at the Cheekee-chobee (Big Chickee) Performance
Stage. In the quiet, tree-shaded area, visitors gather to hear acoustic folk
music as breezes blow through the thatched roofs of the chickees.
 Carillon Tower Stage
The group sing-a-longs that occur in the air-conditioned Carillon Tower Stage
have been a favorite of families and children on Saturday and Sunday of the
Festival. The acoustic music atmosphere of the Tower Stage brings people together
to hear some extraordinary performers in a quiet setting, and to remember the
songs they learned to sing as children.
 Jam Tent
The Jam Tent provides an atmosphere for musicians, storytellers and visitors
to come together for group singing and stories. Families are encouraged to bring
their children and join in with festival performers to recall the carefree atmosphere
of "the old porch swing". Each morning the jam sessions begin with
story circles bringing children and elders together. In addition, programs designed
to join our elder and our youngest generations in a shared performance will
be held in the Jam Tent throughout the festival.
Traditional Folklife Area
The Traditional Folklife Area features two primary stages. The Folklife Stage
is designed to interest families in cultural and community traditions. Each
year a different community or industry is presented in a variety of ways. From
crafts and oral traditions to foodways, dance and customs, discover something
new about Florida's people. The theme of this year's Festival is Eastern Mediterranean
Cultures. While at the Folk Arts Tent festival-goers can learn about the sponge
divers of Tarpon Springs, Jews in Orlando, and the fascinating communities that
are part of the mosaic of Florida Folklife.
Florida Handmade Instrument Makers Area
Don't miss the Florida Instrument Makers Area, all weekend in the West Gallery
of the Stephen Foster Museum. Some of Florida's best luthiers gather to exhibit
their finest handmade guitars, violins, mandolins, dulcimers, and other stringed
instruments.
Florida Storytelling in the Auditorium
Florida's most accomplished storytellers gather in the Festival Auditorium to
share tall tales, true experiences, and family histories. Storytelling is one
of the most popular areas of the Festival, attracting families and children
to sit and listen to the tales of the Sunshine State.
Florida Native Species Workshop
Friday's activities feature this "kid's" workshop by famed eco-troubadour
Dale Crider, along with environmental educators and other volunteers. During
this four-hour workshop children construct paper masks and costumes of Florida's
endangered species. At 1:00 p.m. the workshop participants will follow in a
procession from the River Gazebo, through the Park to the Seminole Family Camp,
carrying the message that people can live in harmony with native plants and
animals.
Museum Garden Workshop Areas
Throughout the weekend in the Museum Garden Workshops, more than 60 hands-on
teaching and demonstration workshops at the Folk Festival encourage people of
all ages to learn how to play an instrument, tell a story, sing a song, or make
a craft. Some of the workshops are especially designed for children.
 Cousin Thelma Boltin's Gift Shop and Craft Square
Children and families visiting the unique Craft Square on the Festival grounds
can participate in a variety of hands-on crafts activities during the three
days of the festival. The Craft Square artisans are participants in the year-round
craft demonstration program at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park.
These artisans explain their crafts to visitors and encourage audience participation.
Cousin Thelma Boltin's Gift Shop features the best collection of Florida's arts
and crafts, foods, unique gifts, T-shirts, caps and Stephen Foster memorabilia.
 Crafts/Festival Marketplace
Handcrafted items at the Old Marble and Amphitheater Craft areas range from
the traditional and functional to studio and fine art productions. Traditional
arts for sale include beeswax candles, Hungarian embroidery, baskets made of
sweetgrass and split white oak, palmetto weaving, rag rugs, decorative ironwork,
Native American finger weaving, and the East Indian henna paintings known as
mehendi. Studio and fine crafts include decorative pottery, handmade jewelry,
turned wood, batik and tie-dyed  clothing, fish rubbings, and nature photography.
Additionally, folk art demonstrators located throughout the Old Marble and Amphitheater
craft areas share their stories of making and using carved duck decoys, hand-tied
cast nets, custom made surf boards and quilts.
In Marketplace, imports from Mexico, Indonesia, South America and Hawaii are
for sale, alongside educational exhibits on Florida and environmental awareness.
Marketplace exhibits include wildlife protection and land and river conservation
organizations such as The Florida Panther Society, Save Our Suwannee, and Florida
Sierra.
Food
Festival goers can enjoy the bounty of Florida cooking, beginning with Southern
standards like fried chicken, collards, barbeque, hoppin' john, and sweet potato
pie. Regional favorites reflect the land and the sea, with smoked mullet, gator
tail, shrimp, catfish, and chicken pilau. Ethnic menus include Greek sandwiches
and pastries, Caribbean jerk and curry dishes, Asian-style skewered meats, Seminole
fry bread and creole creations. Round out the menu with new American cuisine
or old-fashioned hot dogs, hamburgers, root beer floats and lemonade. Whatever
you choose, from church supper favorites to jambalaya or fruit smoothies, Florida's
cooking is delicious!
back to top |
Thank you to our
sponsors!
 American
Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Columbia County Tourist
Development Council
Dean & Company,
Inc.
Duffy Soto
Florida Blacksmith
Association
Florida Department of
State, Division of Historic Resources, Florida Folklife Program
Florida Folklore
Society
Florida Media, Inc
Friends of Florida Folk
George Steinbrenner
Hamilton County Chamber
of Commerce
Hamilton County Tourist
Development Council
Visit Florida
Lake City Community
College
National Endowment for
the Arts
South Florida Folk
Festival
Southern Arts
Federation
Stephen Foster Citizen’s
Support Organization
The New York Yankees
Tampa Foundation
The Seminole Tribe of
Florida
Town of White Springs
WCJB Television,
Gainesville
WJXT Television,
Jacksonville
|
