To download a PDF of our latest press release with details about the National Folk Festival coming July 9-11, 2010, click here.

For all press inquiries, please contact the National Folk Festival by sending an email using our CONTACT FORM.

 

8/27/09

The National Folk Festival Executive Committee releases survey results of festival attendees. The average spent by attendees in the trade area is $177.82. Organizers estimate that the economic impact of the 2009 event which attracted nearly 120,000 from throughout the region is nearly $17 million dollars. Read a press release about the survey or review the survey summary results here.

 

 

8/10/09

Festival organizers announce the theme for the 2010 National Folk Festival's Folklife area -- Western Crossroads -- Where the Wild West Met the Industrial Revolution. The 2010 festival will include demonstrations and displays to educate and celebrate Butte, Montana's place as a place where the frontier and the urban metropolis it became converged in the late 19th and early 20th century.

 

 

8/6/09

The Butte-Silver Bow Urban Revitalization Agency renews its support for the 2010 National Folk Festival with a grant of $14,062.

 

 

7/30/09

Work begins to incorporate comments from festival attendees to improve and expand the 72nd National Folk Festival set for July 9-11, 2010.

 

7/10-12/09

The 71st National Folk Festival is held over the weekend in Butte, Montana and welcomes crowds estimated at 120,000 over the three days. A thunderstorm on Sunday afternoon curtails a couple of performances but the crowds hang tough through the afternoon and celebrate until the end.

 

 

7/06/09

Travelocity, the national travel company that is represented by the red-hatted Roaming Gnome, announces that they have stepped up as a sponsor of the 71st and 72nd National Folk Festivals.

 

 

7/03/09

The Big Sky Division of the U.S. Postal Service announces that they will install a mobile post office situated near the Original Mineyard during the 71st National Fok Festival. The mobile unit will offer full services to the attendees at the festival. Also, the station will feature a special commemorative envelope with unique cancellation for all mail sent from the station each day of the event.

 

 

6/10/09

The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation announces a grant of $45,000 to support the programming of the National Folk Festival.

 

 

5/25/09

The schedule of performances and workshops is set and unveiled on the web site for the 71st National Folk Festival. To see the hour-by-hour schedule, visit the Schedule area of this site.

 

 

5/15/09

A detailed map becomes available that shows the boundaries of the festival grounds in historic Uptown Butte. To view the map, and get "orientated" for the upcoming festival, visit the Event Map area of this site.

 

 

5/04/09

The National Council for the Traditional Arts announces the final lineup, including eight more performers coming to the 71st National Folk Festival. For a complete list and more details, including photos and sound clips, visit our Performers area.

 

 

4/30/09

The Butte law firm of Corette, Pohlman and Kebe sponsors the 71st National Fok Festival in the amount of $5,000.

 

 

4/28/09

The Montana State Legislature passes HB644 that appropriates $200,000 over the next two years to fund the National Folk Festival in Montana.

 

 

4/17/09

The National Endowment for the Arts announces an award to support the First Peoples' Gathering at the 71st National Folk Festival in the amount of $30,000.

 

 

3/31/09

Local businesses rise to the challenge made by The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation with their major contribution to the National Folk Festival -- $50,000. The gift was offered as as a challenge grant and Montana corporations and businesses rose to the challenge to match that amount by the end of March.

Corporations and businesses that responded to help meet the challenge are Northwestern Energy ($15,000), The Silver Bow Area Lodging and Hospitality Assocation ($10,000), Harrington Bottling Co., ($7,000), AWARE, Inc. ($5,000), Legacy Branding ($5,000), REC Silicon ($5,000) Quarry Brewing Co. ($1,000), Wells Fargo Bank ($1,000), MSE-TA ($1,000), Uptown Cafe ($1,500), Healthlink Therapy ($250) and Dancing Rainbow Grocery Store ($50).

With the challenge met, the Foundation will provide an additional $50,000 grant to support the 71st National Folk Festival.

 

 

3/16/09

The National Council for the Traditional Arts announces six more performers coming to the 71st National Folk Festival. For a complete list and more details, including photos and sound clips, visit our Performers area.

 

 

3/9/09

Members of the Silver Bow Area Lodging and Hospitality Association join as a sponsor of the 71st National Folk Festival. Hospitality experts with local hotels and motels will lend their expertise to the effort to invite guests to visit Butte before, after, and during the July 10-12 festival.

 

3/4/09

Legacy Branding joins as the exclusive merchandise sponsor of the 71st National Folk Festival.

 

 

3/3/09

The Montana Lottery joins as a sponsor of the 71st National Folk Festival.

 

 

2/27/09

Montana Public Radio reaffirms its partnership with the National Folk Festival with a three-hour look at the performers and performances of the 2008 festival from 1 pm to 4 pm during their annual pledge drive.

Montana Public Radio is making plans to repeat its live broadcast from the Original Stage during the 71st National Folk Festival that is broadcast throughout the state to their thousands of listeners and to many others by sharing the signal with Yellowstone Public Radio.

 

 

2/25/09

Harrington Bottling Company, regional manufacturer and distributor of Pepsi and Seven-Up products, with headquarters in Butte, has joined the 71st National Folk Festival as the exclusive beverage supplier. They will provide a combination of financial support and in-kind products, such as their own Montana’s Treasure Drinking Water, bottled in Butte, to quench the thirst of performers on the stages and attendees in the crowds on the festival site this July 10-12.
   "We are happy to support the festival and the Butte community, and to play an important part of this major summer event for Southwest Montana.  And, we are pleased to be able to accept the recent challenge of the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation to match their contribution with our own,” said Jim Bennett of Harrington Bottling Company.    

 

 

2/23/09

PPL Montana has renewed its support for a second year as a golf cart sponsor of the National Folk Festival. “We’re pleased that PPL Montana, a sponsor in 2008, has renewed its commitment to sponsor the golf carts during the festival,” said George Everett, of the Folk Festival Executive Committee. “These carts are an essential part of the event to help the elderly and disabled folks make it up Butte’s steep hills, allow performers to get from stage to stage and make it easier for deliveries and errands to take place in and around the crowds,” he said.   

 

2/20/09

AWARE, Inc. has renewed its support for a second year as a sponsor of the National Folk Festival. AWARE will again sponsor shuttles and recycling for the festival. “We were thrilled to be a part of the National Folk Festival last year, and we’re proud to be a part of it again,” said Larry Noonan, AWARE CEO. “The services we offer to the people in this area – and all over the state – have so much to do with being fully engaged in one’s community, and this festival allows for people from all over the world to see just how engaged the people of Butte and southwest Montana are. It’s going to be fantastic.”

 

 

2/17/09

The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation announces a major contribution to the National Folk Festival -- $50,000 -- that is offered as a challenge grant. Montana corporations and businesses are challenged to match it before the end of March. If the challenge grant is met by other businesses in the state, the Festival will receive an additional $50,000 grant.

 

 

1/21/09

The National Council for the Traditional Arts adds a sixth performer -- Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet -- possibly the most renowned Cajun band performing today, to the list of performers confirmed to perform at the 71st National Folk Festival.

 

 

1/9/09

The National Council for the Traditional Arts announces the first five performers (one fifth) confirmed to perform at the 71st National Folk Festival. For a list and more information about the first five performers, visit our Performers area.

 

 

12/29/08

Anheuser Busch, Budweiser and Thompson Distributing ring in the New Year by renewing their support as a major sponsor of the 71st National Folk Festival with a combination of in-kind and cash support.

 

 

12/08/08

The James and Chloe Gilman Charitable Foundation announce their support with a grant of $2,000 for the 71st National Folk Festival July 10-12, 2009.

 

 

11/21/08

Butte Silver Bow County Government, a major festival organizing partner, announced that it has awarded the 71st National Folk Festival $25,000 from its 2009 Economic Mill Levy Fund. This fund is designed to spur projects that will result in economic development for Butte. These funds will be used to help bring performers to Butte who visitors from throughout the region will travel to Butte to hear and enjoy July 10-12, 2009.

 

 

11/17/08

The Butte Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) renews their partnership with the National Folk Festival by pledging to join again as a contributing sponsor of the 2009 festival at the $15,000 level.

 

 

11/05/08

The National Folk Festival announces the selection of the Folklife Coordinator who will guide the professional interpretation of the theme of the horse culture of Montana and the West -- Elizabeth Dear of Great Falls. Dear brings a lifetime of experience in New Mexico and Montana as a curator and as a horse person to bear on the event. To see a press release about all that she will bring to the event, click here.

 

 

10/15/08

Gold West Country, the tourism region that includes Butte and Southwest Montana, renews their support of the national festival and signs on to support the 71st National Folk Festival as a contributing sponsor at $15,000.