The National Folk Festival will return to Jackson in the fall, and this year’s festivities will spotlight Mississippi as the birthplace of America’s music, while adding a patriotic flair in honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Founded in 1934 and championed in its early years by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to highlight the roots, richness, and variety of American culture, the National Folk Festival will once again set up shop in Mississippi’s capital after a successful debut in 2025. This year’s edition will run from Nov. 13 to 15. Although some music acts were announced in April, the full schedule and lineup have not been revealed.
However, the Mississippi Folklife Area and Stage at the Folk Festival were recently unveiled, emphasizing the Magnolia State’s musicians, artisans, and food.
“The National Folk Festival goes from community to community, celebrating the nation’s finest traditional artists, but within that, we always want to celebrate and honor the best artists from the home state and region,” National Council for the Traditional Arts Executive Director Blaine Waide said on Good Things with Rebecca Turner. “So the state and regional folklife area is always one of the key aspects of the festival for people to come and get a sense of the home state and region and take a little bit of that home with you.”
While the focus of the Mississippi Folklife Area is on the Magnolia State, the overall theme of the 2026 National Folk Festival is America250 as a part of a continuing celebration of America’s 250th birthday.
“It’s always a themed area, so from year-to-year there’s a different focus, and this year everything is America250 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country,” Waide explained.
In addition to the heavy focus on America250, the major theme of the Mississippi Folklife Area is a celebration of Mississippi’s contribution to American music and culture, specifically in food.
“The theme this year in the Mississippi Folklife Area and Stage is ‘Mississippi Flavor: At the Crossroads of the American Story,'” Waide said. “It’s both very literal – there’s going to be a lot of foodways demonstrators – and metaphorical. It’s a nod to the way Mississippi has influenced so much of America’s artistic, cultural, and musical history across 250 years.
“You cannot talk about American music and culture without Mississippi being central to that story, and this is a chance to really celebrate that.”
Various Mississippi-based musicians, like Clinton native Eddie Cotton Jr. and Jackson’s own Mississippi Mass Choir, will be featured on the Mississippi Folklife stage throughout the three-day event. A full list of Mississippi talent can be found here, but more names are expected to be added at a later date.
“We will have music going all day as well as the demonstrations and the narrative stage, but it’s a hard thing (choosing musicians) when you’re looking at Mississippi because we have so many wonderful musicians,” Mississippi Arts Commission Folk and Traditional Arts Director Kristen Brandt said.
“It’s more of ‘who do I pick this year?’ than ‘I’m already building the list for next year’ because there are already so many good people that could have been on stage this year if we had a month-long festival.”
On top of the music scene at the National Folk Festival, regional foods of all types will be featured in the Mississippi Folklife Area for guests to enjoy. Brandt also emphasized that the featured foods at the festival won’t merely be something visitors can eat and move on from; they’ll be in designated demonstration areas for people to witness and learn to cook.
“With Mississippi flavor being a focus, of course, we have a lot of food,” Brandt said. “This is different traditions from across the state so we have Delta tamales from the Mississippi Delta with Las Delicias in Leland.
“We’ve also got some Jackson home staples like the Big Apple Inn, which is really just right around the corner from the festival site downtown,” Brandt continued. “We’re really excited to be able to welcome food artists from across the state but also celebrate the ones that are right next to us downtown.”
