82nd National Folk Festival Announces Family Area Programming
- kayt255
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Interactive performances, hands-on crafts, and cultural activities for all ages take center stage November 8 & 9.
Jackson, MS — The 82nd National Folk Festival is thrilled to announce its Family Area programming, a vibrant and interactive space designed for young audiences and their families to enjoy at the festival. Located in Downtown Jackson, the Family Area features the Community Foundation for Mississippi/W.K. Kellogg Foundation Family Stage and the C Spire Foundation | Regions Bank Family Activities Area, offering a weekend full of creativity, curiosity, and fun for kids—and kids at heart.
The Family Stage will host a dynamic lineup of performances, including circus arts, storytelling, and interactive music and dance. Festivalgoers of all ages can enjoy:
Acme Miniature Flea Circus (Providence, RI via Barcelona, Spain) — flea circus
A world-renowned psycho-entomologist and his trained fleas, Midge and Madge, perform death-defying stunts and sideshow antics that have amazed and amused audiences globally.
Vasti Jackson’s “The Soul of Jimmie Rodgers” (Hattiesburg, MS) — country and blues
The award-winning blues musician teaches classic Rodgers’s songs and his own originals, celebrating Mississippi’s rich musical heritage.
Chief Shaka Zulu (New Orleans, LA) — New Orleans Black masking craftsmen and stilt dancer
A dazzling blend of West African, Caribbean, Indigenous, and European traditions through drumming, mask-making, and stilt dancing.
Oka Homma Alla Hilha Alhiha (Redwater, MS) — Choctaw social dancing
An intergenerational Choctaw dance group sharing participatory traditional dances that celebrate life events and the natural world.
Leaving Legacies (Jackson, MS) — krump dance
This group mesmerizes audiences with a highly energetic and explosive style of hip hop dance, embracing its capacity for healing through movement.
Beyond the stage, the Family Activities Area invites children and families to engage in a wide array of hands-on crafts, quiet and active games, and creative learning experiences. From designing blues guitars and buttons from the Civil Rights Movement to exploring sensory bins and building family trees, the area offers something for every curious mind. Interactive music and dance sessions—from Choctaw to krump and klezmer styles—encourage movement and cultural exploration, while traditional Choctaw games and storytelling on the Mississippi Children’s Museum’s Story to Stage Exhibit with National Park Service rangers bring Mississippi’s folklife to life.
STEM enthusiasts can visit Mississippi State University’s cyber-education trailer for virtual reality, coding, and 3D printing. Young visitors can make their own puppet, try Choctaw beading, earn a Junior Ranger badge, meet Ed Said from MPB, and get up close with Mississippi wildlife through live animal exhibits and nature artifacts.
This immersive experience is made possible thanks to our Family Area partners: B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, The MAX, Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum Foundation, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi Children’s Museum, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Mississippi State University, National Park Service.
The National Folk Festival is a partnership of the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the City of Jackson, Visit Jackson, Downtown Jackson Partners, the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership, the Community Foundation for Mississippi, the Mississippi Arts Commission, the Mississippi Humanities Council, Visit Mississippi, and the National Park Service. The festival is FREE to the public.
The National Folk Festival is sponsored in part by: Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Mississippi Department of Archives & History, The Foundation for Mississippi History, Levitt Foundation, Atmos Energy, MWB, C Spire Foundation, Hilton Jackson, Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, Hinds County Economic Development Authority, Gertrude C. Ford Foundation, Hope Credit Union/Hope Enterprise Corporation, Renasant Bank, Cadence Bank, Trustmark Bank, Entergy, Fox40, The Phil Hardin Foundation, Capital Area Tourism Association, City of Flowood, City of Vicksburg, Visit Vicksburg, Explore Ridgeland, Explore Louisiana, Jackson Redevelopment Authority, Volunteer Mississippi, Southern Beverage Company, Fertile Ground Beer Co., Hal & Mal’s, Clarion Ledger, LocaliQ, Thomas Consulting Group, StateStreet Group, Amazon, The Music Performance Trust Fund, South Arts, and the Pecan Tree Park Neighborhood Association.
