The event, which originated in the past century, drew thousands of people to Philadelphia’s main stage each year. Famous local performers, amateurs and national stars all performed here. Find out more information about the sixty-year history of the folk music festival at philadelphiaski.com.
Debut and establishment of the event
The first Folk Festival in our city was held in 1962. Then, coordinated by Gene Shay, a group of local enthusiasts gathered all the creative people on one Philadelphia stage. Despite the fact that the festival has been hosted in the suburbs on one of the farms since its inception, it has long been one of Pennsylvania’s most anticipated music fairs. Many music lovers organized their holidays around this event, which included a diverse music lineup, master classes and events for people of all ages.
When the event gained popularity, its organizers established the Philadelphia Folksong Society. They were officially involved in arranging concerts, paying taxes (although they were a non-profit organization), communicating with local entrepreneurs and thus developing a cultural event.
Thanks to the achievements of Philadelphia volunteers, every year the Old Pool Farm gathers at least thirty thousand spectators, including over seven thousand tourists.
The local festival provides over 75 hours of driving music from great American bands and solo performers. Many admirers of this action were once fortunate to hear live music from the following genres: World/Fusion, Celtic, Singer/Songwriter, Folk Rock, Country, Klezmer, Blues, Bluegrass, Hip/Hop, Spoken Word and others.
In 2007, Justin Nordell took over as the new president of the Philadelphia Folksong Society, with the goal of preserving the former glory of the Folk Music Festival in the City of Brotherly Love to the end.
Final years of the festival’s existence
Due to the deployment of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the oldest music festival, which was traditionally hosted in an open-air setting, had to be held online. Despite the difficulties that everyone experienced at the time, the organizers were able to raise more than $200,000 to assist performers who were left without work.
In 2022, it was finally possible to revive the historic Philadelphia Folk Festival with an audience on its native farm. Furthermore, the year happened to coincide with a remarkable occasion in the history of this fair, its anniversary.
The sixtieth folk music festival was held from August 18th to August 22nd. Along with the much-anticipated live performance in the open air, some fans from across the world were able to witness the action online.
Final year’s musical guests were Michael Franti & Spearhead, The War and Treaty and Punch Brothers & Watchhouse with Sarah Jarosz. In addition, there performed Arrested Development, a popular hip-hop group from Atlanta, and true American folk music legends Tom Rush and Bettye LaVette.
At the fest, in addition to American songwriters, foreign artists included Catherine Britt and the South Korean ensemble ADG7. The latter were particularly popular with the local audience, performing classic folk songs that convey the history of their nation. They employed a variety of combinations of traditional instruments, modern K-pop and powerful vocals.
In 2023, after sixty years of existence of the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the leaders of the PFS organization made the decision to close this project.
