The 2008 South Florida Folk Festival will be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at Markham Park on January 19-20, 2008 on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Weekend. The festival welcomes music loving fans from all over the country and the world to experience and enjoy a wide variety of great music performed by exceptional musicians. Since 1992, the festival has been a combination of a music fest, family reunion, community gathering, and weekend musical retreat. This annual event features over 200 musician...
The 2008 South Florida Folk Festival will be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at Markham Park on January 19-20, 2008 on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Weekend. The festival welcomes music loving fans from all over the country and the world to experience and enjoy a wide variety of great music performed by exceptional musicians. Since 1992, the festival has been a combination of a music fest, family reunion, community gathering, and weekend musical retreat. This annual event features over 200 musicians and up to 3000 attendees along with 50 vendors. The musicians perform, lead workshops, host jamming sessions and interact with an appreciative music loving crowd.
Each year the festival extends a warm invitation to musicians all over the country and the world to participate in the Singer/Songwriter Competition. The competition was created by the South Florida Folk Festival to encourage and facilitate growth for singer/songwriters. Artists may submit as many two-song entries as they wish. Since evaluation of art is by its very nature subjective, we strive to obtain noteworthy yet discerning persons from the folk music community to act as our final judges at the festival. We utilize a panel of preliminary judges from the local folk community to determine who the 12 finalists will be from the many entries we receive. Finalists will perform their two songs on Saturday, January 19, 2008 at the festival. All finalists also play "in the round" on various stages throughout the two day festival. The final judges at the festival will select three winners. Winners will receive cash prizes as well as an invitation to perform at the following year's South Florida Folk Festival.
Genres accepted include: Acoustic, folk and related singer/songwriter genres.
The South Florida Folk Festival is presented by the Broward Folk Club, a (501)(3)(c) volunteer organization with over 250 members. The Broward Folk Club originated the festival to encourage the creation, presentation and appreciation of folk and acoustic music, by continuing the American tradition of story and song into the next century.
Many types of acoustic music are presented at the Festival each year, ranging from bluegrass and old time traditional to contemporary folk music and contra dance. It is also an open venue for people who just enjoy playing in their spare time. Following in the folk tradition of incorporating the ever-changing music community in America, the festival includes world music, dance music and new acoustic trends. The festival is a celebration of many unique folk traditions. This is a place for many varieties of music to be heard. Every January, thousands of fans come from all over the country to experience our festival and enjoy great music. Some of the best names in folk have appeared at the festival. Some notable past performers have included: Melanie, Bethany Yarrow, The Burn Sisters, Bob Franke, Kristina Olsen, Sally Fingerett, Susan Werner, Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen, David Roth, Small Potatoes, Tom Prasada-Rao, David Massengill, Jack Williams, Joel Rafael Band, Billy Jonas, Erica Wheeler and Sloan Wainwright.
The South Florida Folk Festival is a combination of a music fest, family reunion, neighborhood gathering, and weekend spiritual retreat!