Cityfolk Festival Returns to Downtown

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - WDTN will once again sponsor The Cityfolk Festival—the largest multi-cultural celebration in the region. It returns to Dayton’s RiverScape MetroPark with the very best in music, dance, art, food, and family fun! In partnership with the City of Dayton and Five Rivers MetroParks, the Cityfolk Festival will include a stunning fireworks display on Friday night, July 3, beginning at 10 PM. Admission is FREE thanks to the generous support of Cityfolk’s members and sponsors. The Festival is open Friday, July 3 from 5:30 -10:30 PM, Saturday, July 4 from 1-11 PM and Sunday, July 5 from 1- 7 PM. You can explore performer bios, learn how you can volunteer, and find other information at www.cityfolk.org.

The Cityfolk Festival’s three performance stages will sizzle with sounds from throughout America and around the world —twenty-five hours of non-stop fun over three exciting days. This year’s lineup includes bluegrass cornerstone Ralph Stanley and his Clinch Mountain Boys, banjo master Bela Fleck in a sizzling collaboration with African singer Oumare Sangare, hard rockin’ blues with Diunna Greenleaf and Blue Mercy, the best in Louisiana Cajun music with Feufollet, wildly eclectic Canadian band The Duhks, and more from a rainbow of traditions including Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, India and Ireland. Twenty-two food vendors will be on site, Pepsi drinks, and Miller Beer will be available in addition to an International Beer Garden near the Main Stage

This year’s material culture area of the Festival, titled “Threads of Evidence” will focus on the spectacular range of quilters working throughout the Midwest, including master quilters from a variety of traditions, including Appalachian, African-American, Asian, and European. Among the quilters exhibiting their work is 2004 Ohio Heritage Fellowship Award recipient Carolyn Mazloomi. Quilters will exhibit their colorful quilts in the “Threads of Evidence” exhibit, and demonstrate their techniques on the Festival’s workshop stage.

Want to see the Cityfolk Festival from the best seats in the house? Then Room With A View is for you! This private seating area gives ticket holders access to the best views of the Main Stage, complete with umbrella tables, complimentary soft drinks and snacks, a private cash bar, private facilities, free parking on the Festival site, and complimentary beer and wine tasting each day of the Festival. Best of all, income from Room With A View ticket sales help keep the Festival open to everyone! Ticket packages are $75 for an Individual View, $150 for a Double View, $250 for a Family View (four passes), and $450 for a Corporate View (eight passes). Each three-day pass is perforated with three parts—one for each day of the Festival—so that you can share with friends, family or clients. Tickets can be purchased online at www.cityfolk.org or by calling the Cityfolk box office at 937-496-3863.

Every year nearly 1,000 volunteers pitch in to make the Cityfolk Festival one of the Miami Valley’s favorite summertime events, and you can help too! Help make visitors to the Festival feel welcome as a Festival Entrance Greeter; learn to pour the perfect beer as a member of the Beer Crew; help keep the artists and Festival staff fed as a member of the hospitality crew; or join in one of the many other tasks that make the Festival hum. To learn more about volunteer opportunities or to register to volunteer online, visit the Cityfolk website at www.cityfolk.org, or call the volunteer hotline at 937-223-3655 extension 4006. And volunteer groups are welcome, too! Just gather a group of friends and join in the fun!

The Cityfolk Festival will be accessible to everyone. Available services include sign language interpretation, audio descriptions, designated wheelchair seating at each stage, audio amplification headsets, large-print and Braille programs, and designated parking contact Shelley McNichols at 937-223-3655, extension 3001 or e-mail festival@cityfolk.org.

Major support for the Cityfolk Festival is provided by NewPage Corporation, the Jack W. and Sally D. Eichelberger Foundation, Reynolds & Reynolds, NCR, the City of Dayton, Five Rivers MetroParks, Dayton Daily News, WDTN-TV, the National Endowment for the Arts, Kroger, Culture Works, Miller Beer, Pepsi, the Ohio Arts Council, and WYSO 91.3 FM.