RVA Events : Folk Festival

annestuartteter
Oct 17, 2015
2 min read

If you haven’t been to the Folk Festival, you are missing out on a true Richmond gem. Admittedly, this was my first year in attendance, and I regret it! I regret that I haven't taken advantage of this FREE festival in the heart of this city that I love!

The Folk Festival is the largest on the east coast, and once there you can see why. Brown’s Island to Tredegar is shut down with stages set up throughout. You can walk around for 10 minutes and see/hear 5 different acts. With food vendors, beer trucks and wine slushies, what’s not to love about this?

Hat game on point

Need more convincing? Did I mention this festival is free?! You literally get to see amazing music right in front of you for the cost of nothing! Where else in the world is this possible? I tell you nowhere!

(OK that last sentence had a lot of punctuation I’ll try to tone it down from here on out.)

Cheesin for the Folk Festival

We went Saturday afternoon, it was an overcast day, which sort of fit the vibe perfectly. Once on the island, we passed one of the tents that looked like a real party, but our goal was to find our friends and a frosty beverage, so onward we trodded. Beer was centrally located, with an absurd line (yes of course we waited in it). Once equipped with the necessary devices (Sweetwater 420 for me) we set off to see what all the fuss was about. We stumbled upon a very interesting group called Riyaaz Qawwali. They are an islamic poetry group based out of Texas (seriously). They sat on the stage and sung some beautiful verses. I would never have gone to a show like this, but it was quite the experience and I kind of think exactly what the Folk Festival is all about - introducing people to new music they may not otherwise try.

Next, we ventured to the mainland over to Tredegar, where Anhayla was doing her thing. An R&B artist from right here in Richmond, she wowed the crowd with her impressive voice and funny stories of why she suspects she is still single (look up some of her song lyrics to understand).

Anhayla on stage

The music was all around fantastic and totally different than what I typically listen to, but the real treasure is the surroundings, look around you in a 5 foot radius and you see the best of Richmond. From the river, to the history and especially the people, it is important to pay attention to your surroundings at an event like this! At one point I turned around and saw a Bolivian Dance Parade. It was a site! I’ll surely be going back next year.