National Folk Festival Announces Full Schedule for Nov 13-15 Events
October 9, 2026
The National Folk Festival announced today the full performance schedule for November’s event. With over 300 artists performing across six stages, and dozens of craft demonstrators and artisans showcasing their craft in the Mississippi Folklife Area and the Festival Marketplace, festival attendees can expect a feast of delights anywhere they turn, and new favorites to discover. The festival returns to Downtown Jackson, November 13-15, 2026, with a similar festival footprint as last year, with a few changes.
The FREE, three-day celebration begins with Hill Country blues and African American fife and drum from Cedric Burnside and Rising Stars Fife & Drum at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 13, on the Visit Mississippi Stage. At 6:45 p.m., the Mississippi Alumni All-Star Band will kick off the opening parade, leading festival attendees from the Visit Mississippi Stage to the Ergon/Alliant Stage. Everyone is invited to join in. Festival organizers will officially open the festival at 7:15 p.m. Three stages will be running on Friday night from 7:15-9:30 p.m.—the Ergon/Alliant Stage, the Visit Mississippi Stage, and the StateStreet Group Dance Pavilion.
The festival once again runs along Capitol Street, with large, open-air stages anchoring either end—the Ergon/Alliant Stage, at the intersection of Capitol and State Streets, in front of the Old Capitol Museum, and the Visit Mississippi Stage, which has moved one block from last year’s location, and now sits between Lamar and West Streets. The StateStreet Group Dance Pavilion is once again in the “Welcome to Jackson” lot at Pearl and State Streets, and the City With Soul Stage, a large, covered venue, is in a new location on West Street between Capitol and Pearl Streets. We are pleased to return to Smith Park, which will be shared by the Mississippi Folklife Area and VitalCore Health Strategies Mississippi Folklife Stage (located across Congress Street from Smith Park) and the Family Activities Area, sponsored by C Spire Foundation and Regions Bank, and Family Stage, sponsored by Community Foundation for Mississippi and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Additional festival areas include the Festival Marketplace, sponsored by Hinds County Economic Development Authority, in front of the Governor’s Mansion on Capitol Street, and two street performance areas—one at Capitol and Congress Streets, and another in the Smith Park Amphitheater.
Beginning at noon on Saturday, November 14, all six outdoor stages—plus street performance areas and the Mississippi Folklife Demonstration Area—will provide non-stop entertainment. Saturday runs all day through 9:30 p.m., with some venues closing between 5 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday festival hours are noon through 6:00 p.m. Marketplace and food vendors open an hour before the festival starts each day.
The 83rd National Folk Festival will prominently feature National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship recipients, our nation’s highest honor for the traditional arts, in a special program celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. The festival is also participating this year in Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals, a series of programs and exchanges marking the U.S. Semiquincentennial and showcasing the country’s remarkable cultural landscape.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
This project received funding from the Smithsonian’s “Our Shared Future: 250,” a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years.