A free online folk festival is coming to New York City at the end of August.
The Digital Washington Square Park Folk Festival, normally an in-person event, will stream online due to the pandemic. Hosted by Jalopy Theatre, the tenth annual festival will stream on Aug. 30 from 2 to 5 p.m. on the theatre’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jalopytheatre.
The Washington Square Park Folk Festival celebrates and continues the long tradition of folk music performance in Washington Square Park, dating back to the 1940s when Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger would play together in the park. The tradition continued in the 1960s with Bob Dylan up until today.
The festival will be recorded live at the Jalopy Theatre with no live audience and a small crew, wearing masks and practicing social distancing. This year’s festival will feature blues, folk and jazz singer and multi-instrumentalist Jerron ‘Blindboy’ Paxton, as well as acclaimed performers such as songwriter Feral Foster, Flamenco singer Julia Patinella and La Cumbiamba NY, playing traditional Cumbia music from Colombia.
The schedule of the festival will be as follows:
- Julia Patinella – 2 p.m.
- Feral Foster – 2:45 p.m.
- La Cumbiamba NY – 3:30 p.m.
- Jerron ‘Blindboy’ Paxton – 4:15 p.m.
The festival is free to the public and supported by the NYU Office of Community Affairs, the Washington Square Hotel, the Music Inn, the Washington Square Park Conservancy and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
For more information, visit www.WSPFolkFest.com.
