A festival celebrating the cultural traditions of the Natural State is scheduled for June 26-28 at Riverfront Park in North Little Rock.
The Arkansas Folklife Festival is a free event that organizers say will be “a statewide celebration of the traditions, creativity, and everyday culture that make Arkansas home.”
Artists, musicians, storytellers, cooks and others will take part to celebrate the state’s past, present and future, according to a press release.
“Taking place the weekend before July 4 during the nation’s 250th anniversary year, the Arkansas Folklife Festival is proudly “The People’s 250″ — a community-led celebration that honors the many cultures and traditions that live and breathe across Arkansas,” according to the press release.
It is also part of Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals, organized by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, connecting Arkansas to locally rooted celebrations happening across the country as part of the America 250 commemoration.
Organizers have spent the past year hosting community engagement gatherings in the Delta, north central, northwest, central/river valley, southwest, and southeast areas of the state to learn about traditions and hear how people of these regions want their communities represented.
“We’re throwing an Arkansas party, and people are showing up ready to help shape it,” said Rachel Reynolds, founder and director of the festival. “It’s been incredible to see how much pride folks have in their communities and how deeply they want to see their stories reflected in something statewide. This festival is being curated by the people themselves — that’s why we call it ‘The People’s 250.’ When we create spaces rooted in shared joy and cultural pride, we build something we can all belong to, no matter our differences.”
This project received funding from the Smithsonian’s “Our Shared Future: 250,” a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years.
For more information, visit arkansasfolklifefestival.org.
