Friends and Folk Festivals

Saturday was a great day - we went to the pool early for the afternoon and then came home to get ready for a fun night out in the city. Our night out consisted of a trip downtown to the National Folk Festival.

At first, we expected to hear tons of folk music and weren't super excited about that possibility (we mostly wanted to hang out with our friends Nicole and J.L.) But, we were pleasantly surprised when we saw the program of events and it showcased many varieties of music and dance too! 

Our wonderful friends, Nicole and J.L.

The National Folk Festival has traveled the country since 1934. The festival has a three-year stay in communities across the country and this year it took place in Nashville. The festival is free and open to the public and its program boasts of performances from individuals, bands, and groups from across the nation. These performances take place on five different stages for 3 days - such great entertainment! The goal of the festival is to bring together various genres of music and dance to create a diverse showcase of these traditional art forms and ultimately, for this diversity to have a positive impact on the communities that host the festival. 

While we were there, we heard a blues band, a New Orleans band, and saw breakdancing! The breakdancers were incredible - here's a video to give you an idea of how amazing it was: 

Unfortunately, a storm started rolling through that evening, so we left around 10 p.m. and didn't go back the following day because it was raining again. We are happy that we were able to experience a bit of the festival though and recommend anyone to check it out if its in a city near you next year!