Folk Festivals & Fiddle Contests in New England


Celebrate! All of the festivals listed below present a healthy amount of traditional or contemporary folk music. Most are outdoors, rain or shine, and many offer camping. Being festivals, and desiring to attract the largest possible audiences for their events, they may also support folk dance, childrens’ activities, arts & crafts and other types of music, both folk and non-folk styles. Annual fiddle contests are also popular in New England, and can be rather festival-like, so they are listed here, as well.
The events are listed by calendar date, January to December.

Vermont

Northern Roots Festival
January, Brattleboro
Young Tradition Weekend
May, Burlington
Roots on the River
June, Bellows Falls
Festival on the Green
July, Middlebury
Solar Fest
July, Tinmouth
Champlain Valley Folk Festival
August, Ferrisburgh
Valley Stage Music Festival
August, Huntington
Plymouth Folk
Labor Day Weekend, Plymouth Notch
Roots on the Rails
Autumn festivals on a train!
Organizer located in Bellows Falls

New Hampshire

March Mandolin Festival
March, Concord
Pittsfield Fiddle Contest
May, Pittsfield
Meetinghouse Park Annual Fiddle Jam & Party
July, Hampstead
Prescott Park Folk Festival
July, Portsmouth
Great Waters Folk Festival
July, Wolfeboro
Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival
Sept, Portsmouth
New Hampshire Folk Fest
Nov, Rochester

Massachusetts

NEFFA
April, Mansfield
Spring Dulcimer Festival
May, Cambridge
North Shore Folk Festival
May, Salem
WUMB Music Fest
June, Boston
New Bedford Summerfest
July, New Bedford
Plymouth Harbor Folk Festival
July, Plymouth
Green River Music Festival
July, Greenfield
Lowell Folk Festival
July, Lowell
Sea Scape Maritime Festival
July, Gloucester
Salem Maritime Festival
August, Salem
Wachusett Valley Folk Festival
August, Westminster
Berkshire Women’s Muse Fest
August, Pittsfield
Rochester Fiddle Contest
August, Rochester
Bread & Roses
Labor Day, Lawrence
Lowell Banjo & Fiddle Contest
Sept, Lowell
Joe Davies Folk Festival
Sept, Middleboro
Working Waterfront Festival
Sept, New Bedford
Revels RiverSing
Sept, Cambridge
Fiddle Hell
Nov, Groton

Maine

Maine Fiddle Fest
April, Bath
American Folk Festival
August, Bangor


Connecticut

New England Fiddle Contest
June, Manchester
Mystic Sea Music Festival
June, Mystic
“Traditions”
June, New London
Connecticut Folk Festival
Sept, New Haven
Nutmeg Dulcimer Festival
Oct, Milford


Rhode Island

Brown University Folk Festival
May, Providence
Rhode Island Folk Festival
May, Foster
Newport Folk Festival
August, Newport

last updated 23 July 2010
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