Florida Folk Festival, May 22-24, 2026, celebrates Florida people and culture, showcasing Americana music

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs

The Florida Folk Festival began with the music: It was 1953, and Pete Seeger and the Weavers had a big hit with Leadbelly’s “Goodnight, Irene.”  Folk music was exploding with acoustic guitar, coffee houses, banjos, beatniks and sing-alongs.

Now some 70 years later, the Florida Folk Festival is still held every Memorial Day weekend, and you’re sure to hear plenty of folk music. But the event has broadened to celebrate Florida’s land, people and diverse cultural heritage.

The Florida Folk Festival is held annually on Memorial Day weekend on the banks of the historic Suwannee River at Stephen Foster Cultural Center State Park in White Springs, and it is ranked among the top 20 festivals in the southeast.

In addition to a full schedule of performances, you’ll find plenty to amuse and educate.

The festival focuses on traditional crafts — everything from split rail fences to henna tattoos.

And the food is not the same-as-everywhere festival food. Look for blue crab burritos, Jamaican patties, shrimp gumbo or Beulah Baptist Church’s chicken and dumplings dinner.

The mission of the Florida Folk Festival is to keep cultural traditions alive, so it emphasizes demonstrations and workshops. Visitors can learn how to square dance, make a pine needle basket or try out playing a mandolin.

Diverse line-up of performers

There will be more than 300 performances by Florida’s greatest folk and roots artists, as well as folk, blues, gospel, country, Latin, jazz, bluegrass, Caribbean and zydeco music.

With a dozen stages, the Florida Folk Festival features a wide variety of performers with roots in Florida.

These performers were listed by the festival website as featured performers for 2026:

• Ben Prestage, guitarist/singer/songwriter and one-man-band, cut his teeth performing in Florida fish camps, biker bars and tourist traps, grew up in rural Florida and has released a dozen albums and touring across the US and more than a dozen countries.
• Walter Parks, who was invited by The Library of Congress to archive his research on and perform his arrangements of music made by the homesteaders of the headwaters of the Suwannee River/Okefenokee Swamp. Parks served as sideman guitarist to Woodstock Festival legend Richie Havens and at Lincoln Center with Judy Collins.
• The Ben Flournoy Trio is led by Flournoy, a rising guitarist and singer-songwriter out of Quincy, Florida, who blends modern pop with bluesy folk.
• The Krickets are an Americana trio from the Gulf Coast whose music features their signature folk harmony.
• Uncle Mosie features musicians brought together by a love of alt-country, bluegrass and all kinds of folk music. They perform both original and beloved cover tunes.
• Melody Trucks & The Fitzkee Brothers blend Southern rock, jam and improvisational fire.
• Elder Charlot & the Akoustiks is an Afro-Caribbean ensemble led by Haitian singer, songwriter and producer Elder Charlot. They blend acoustic soul with rhythms of Haiti.
• Cortadito is a traditional folk and acoustic band that focuses on performing one of the earliest styles of Cuban Pop music known as Son (pronounced sOwn), their sound can best be described as reminiscent of the famed Buena Vista Social Club.
• Karibbean Groove is a six-piece dance band with the sounds of the Caribbean. They specialize in many genres of music including Konpa, Reggae, Zouk, Merengue, Salsa and Calypso.
• Papaloko and Loray Mistik features two multidisciplinary artists rooted in the cultural traditions of Haiti.
• Lili Forbes and The Funky ‘Taters perform original music blending Caribbean rhythms. Forbes grew up on St. Maarten. The Funky Tators is a ten-piece band with horns and a washboard that play danceable funk, jazz and blues, with an emphasis on New Orleans rhythms.
• The Lee Boys is a family group that plays African American sacred steel. Each member began making music at the ages of 7 and 8 in the House of God church they attended in Perrine. Born and raised in Miami, each of The Lee Boys grew up in the church where their father and grandfather, Rev. Robert E. Lee, was the pastor and a steel player himself.
• The Lubben Brothers have spent their lives pioneering a multi-instrumental sound with vocal harmonies in the American folk tradition.
• Frankie J & The Chicken Parade perform high energy comedic folk music.
• Jeanie Fitchen found her niche in the artistic style of traditional music from around the world, first performing in the Florida Folk Festival in 1967. For her long-standing contributions to the folk cultural resources of the state, Jeanie received a Florida Folk Heritage Award in 2001. In recognition of her legacy of performances as a Florida singer-songwriter and for her contributions to the Florida Folk Festival, Jeanie was inducted into the 2016 Florida Folk Festival’s Legends and Legacy Hall of Fame. 2026 will mark Jeanie’s 60th year at the Florida Folk Festival.
• Siempre Flamenco, a not-for-profit company dedicated to promoting and preserving flamenco music and dance.

One of the strengths of the festival, however, is that there are dozens of other performers on the many festival stages over the three days of the event. For example, away from the main amphitheater, you’ll find performers like Deblois, a Florida-based singer-songwriter known for her bluesy folk albums and for her work in environmental activism, on the Seminole Stage and Tower Stage.

To see the varietey of offerings, take a look at the festival schedule.

Planning your visit

At the gate, tickets are $40 per day for adults; $80 for the three-day weekend. Children 6 to 16 are only $5 for the weekend. You can purchase tickets online in advance for $35 per day for adults and $70 for the three-day weekend. Kids tickets are $5 in advance. Here is ticket information.

Stephen Foster Cultural Center State Park, 11016 Lillian Saunders Drive/U.S. Highway 41, White Springs FL 32096. Phone: 386-397-4331. 45 shaded sites with electric, water, picnic table and fire ring. All campsites are ADA accessible. Other activities include bike riding, fishing, hiking, paddling and wildlife. Camping fee: $20 plus $7 daily utility fee. Reservations: Book online at reserve.floridastateparks.org

Lodging

Book a room in nearby Lake City on Hotels.com

Related links

• Florida Rambler article about Stephen Foster State Park
• Website for Florida Folk Festival, includes ticketing
• Tourist information from Visit Natural North Florida