NATCHITOCHES – The 45th Annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival will be held on Saturday July 19 in air-conditioned Prather Coliseum located at 220 South Jefferson Street on the campus of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. The festival’s curated showcase of Louisiana folk musicians, food vendors and traditional crafts persons will open at 9 a.m., with live entertainment scheduled from 9:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. The family-oriented festival is fully wheelchair accessible. Children 12 and under are admitted free. Tickets are $10 at the door for all events, or $6 for an evening pass to all events after 5 p.m.
The festival features three stages of music. Music headliners include Cajun band Amis du Teche, zydeco band Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, blues artist D.K. Harrell, western swing artist the Kristyn Harris Band, roots band Smithfield Fair, gospel group the Amazing! Rhythm Disciples and swamp pop dance band the Has Beans. The festival also includes numerous food vendors offering traditional Louisiana cuisine. Outdoor activities feature demonstrations of traditional blacksmithing, Dutch oven cooking and a child-friendly hands-on demonstration of a 19th century wash day.
In honor of this year’s theme, “Crafting Louisiana,” more than 80 crafts vendors have been invited to display and discuss their traditional work with those attending the festival. Craftspeople are expected to display beadwork, baskets, cowhide chair covers, alligator jewelry, Pysanky eggs, Native American crafts and pottery. Other expected craftspeople will display needlework, wood carvings, handmade toys and dolls, paintings, sculpture, homemade soap, spinning & weaving, handcrafted knives, handmade brooms, walking sticks, folk art quilts and more.
The Festival will include a Red Beans and Rice Cookoff, in which professionals and hobbyists alike can compete in one of multiple categories and demonstrate their cooking skills. Registration and the cooks’ meeting will take place at 8 a.m. Tasting and judging will begin at 12:30 p.m. with winners to be announced at 3:30 p.m. There is no fee to compete in the Cookoff. Red beans & rice must be cooked on-site outside of Prather Coliseum, but beans may be pre-soaked.
The Annual Louisiana State Fiddle Championship will be held at 1 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. There will be a non-championship class and a championship class. A twin fiddle category will also be held. Registration is at noon in the first-floor foyer outside Magale Recital Hall. The Fiddle Championship winner will perform on the main stage in Prather Coliseum at 5 p.m.
The festival includes several opportunities for patrons to engage directly with Louisiana folk culture. Free dance lessons include line dancing taught by the Classy Steppers, Celtic dance taught by the Thistle Dancers and Pipers and Cajun and zydeco dancing taught by the Cajun French Music Association Dance Troupe. Interactive activities include a yodeling demonstration by Kristyn Harris, dancing with the Louisiana Czech Heritage Dancers, a son jarocho fandango dance by the Armadillos Tejano and a musical spoons workshop taught by folk musician Clancey Stewart, with 50 free musical spoons given to workshop attendees.
“The festival bridges the distance between artists and the festival patrons, thus breaking the artificial barriers between artists and audience,” said Dr. Shane Rasmussen, director of the festival and NSU’s Louisiana Folklife Center. “Rather than watching from the sidelines, everyone who takes part in these activities will share and engage in Louisiana’s rich culture.”
KidFest will be available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kidfest is an area dedicated to child-friendly activities and is a fun way for children to examine their own cultural and family traditions as well as those from around the state.
Narrative sessions will be held in the festival N-Club Room from 10 a.m. to 6 p,m. and feature presentations on traditional dolls and dollmaking, Creole architecture, Mexican fiddle styles and folk artist Clementine Hunter, with music informances on the blues with D.K. Harrell and roots music with Smithfield Fair. ASL interpretation, assistive listening devices and audio description for these cultural discussions will be made available upon prior request.
This year also features several pre-Festival events which are free and open to the general public. Fiddlin’ with the Finest will be held at the Many Depot Museum on June 14 and will include several Louisiana State Fiddle Champions discussing and performing traditional fiddling. Attendees are invited to bring their own acoustic instruments for a folk music jam session. A second free pre-festival event, A Life of Zydeco, a Musical Informance with Chubby Carrier, will be held on June 21 at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches with Grammy winner Carrier discussing the cultural significance of zydeco to Louisiana with Rasmussen. A third pre-festival event will be an interactive crafts workshop, with Creole and Native American tradition bearers sharing their cultural knowledge. It will be held at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum on July 12. Free crafting materials will be provided for attendees.
For a full schedule of events, as well as registration forms to participate in the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship and the Red Beans & Rice Cookoff contact the Louisiana Folklife Center at (318) 357-4332 or email folklife@nsula.edu or go to louisianafolklife.nsula.edu.
Support for the festival is provided by grants from the Cane River National Heritage Area, Inc., the City of Natchitoches, the Louisiana Division of the Arts Decentralized Arts Fund Program, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the Louisiana Office of Tourism, the Natchitoches Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Natchitoches Historic District Development Commission, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council, and the State of Louisiana. The festival is sponsored by C&H Precision Machining, City Bank, Cleco, Evans Family, LLC, Exchange Bank, the Family Doctors of Natchitoches, the Harrington Law Firm, Natchitoches Wood Preserving Company and Young Estate, LLC.
