Skip to main content

Festival Blog

  • 2023 Festival,

    Day Three: Top Ten Photos

    July 1, 2023 | Daniel Zhang, Elisa Hough | Comments

    What do poets, picklers, and pedal-steel guitarists have in common? They all take the stage at the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, sharing their skills and stories on the National Mall.

    We welcomed large crowds today for the first Saturday of the Festival, with visitors and staff joining in on quilting projects, an old-time music jam, and profound questions—“What does God feel like to you?” To take shelter from the storm, we gathered in the beautiful Arts and Industries Building for the evening concert and square dance, welcoming dedicated dance communities from D.C., Baltimore, and the Ozarks.

    What’s the best thing you’ve seen at the Festival? Share your stories in the comments and your photos on social media with #2023Folklife.

    Dozens of people playing acoustic guitars, banjos, fiddles, and other string instruments perform in a circle in the grass.
    It’s Bring Your Instruments to Work Day! Several Folklife Festival staff members and interns joined the Ozark Highballers and visitors in an old-time jam session.
    Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Dozens of people playing acoustic guitars, banjos, fiddles, and other string instruments perform in a circle in the grass.
    BOOM! The Japanese Buddhist art of taiko drumming requires you to be a musician and an athlete all at once—all while being in tune with the dharma, or the order of the universe. Nen Daiko, right over in Fairfax, Virginia, will host their own Obon festival next Saturday, July 8.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man in a gray shirt and hazmat mask spray paints a trailer with various circles of red, orange, yellow, and purple.
    Alan “Toxic” Rodriguez and Kayleigh “ktana” Tolman have been hard at work spray painting the Muralist trailer—come back throughout the week to see their progress!
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Sitting under a tree, two men in yellow button-up shirts give a peace sign and thumbs up to the camera. The man in front holds a small, simple scale model of a boat.
    ✌️ and 👍 from Liton Beasa and the other Marshallese canoe builders!
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Tag yourself in the audience! The Natya Dance Theatre of Chicago, Illinois, demonstrated how in the Hindu spiritual dance Bharata Natyam, gestures and facial expressions can signify diverse dramatic meanings.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man with glasses in a gray robe and brown cap holds a blue book, speaking into a microphone with his eyes closed.
    Muslim poets from Fazl Mosque in our very own Washington, D.C., gathered to share classic Islamic devotional poems.
    Photo by Ronald Villasante, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Three women and a man sit in a row on an outdoor stage, all laughing. The three women wear matching white, long-sleeves shirts with a photo of themselves on it.
    After their moving concert last night, the Legendary Ingramettes discussed their spiritual and artistic journeys, with group leader Almeta Ingram-Miller cracking up Smithsonian researcher Mark Puryear along the way.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A young man in profile blows into a small flute or ocarina in the shape of an animal with tall pointy ears and a corn cob in its mouth.
    At the end of the day, to mark the completion (and dissemination) of their first alfombra de aserrín, the members of Viajeros de las Americas led a procession with musical accompaniment through the Pergola.
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    An orange trailer with the words “The Smithsonian Folklife Festival has arrived” spray painted on is parked on the National Mall, with the red Smithsonian castle behind.
    The Smithsonian Folklife Festival has arrived, and it’s here to stay—at least until Sunday, July 9! You still have a chance to catch the Festival any day except Wednesday over the next week. This Folklife mural is a work in progress by Ozarks artists Olivia Trimble and Jennifer Northorp, along with Festival staff painter Sarah Phillips.
    Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Four people dance in a square, hands joined and smiling. A crowd behind them dances as well.
    Rather than dancing in the mud, we moved indoors to do-si-do in the art deco splendor of the Arts and Industries Building.
    Photo by Carys Owen, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

    The presentations continue on Sunday, July 2, with Stories of the Jewish Experience in the DMV, a discussion on The Legacy of Branson and the Ozark Jubilee, and a one-time cross program on Pickling Traditions Across America. Catch performances of Afro-Brazilian Music and Dance, Shape-Note Singing, Hula Dance and Chants , and much more.

    The evening concert, featuring Sufi music from Riyaaz Qawwali and gospel music from The Jones Family Singers—and both together in a very Folklife cross-cultural collaboration—starts a bit earlier than normal, at 5:30 p.m. We hope you can join us!

    Elisa Hough is the editor at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and Daniel Zhang is a media intern for the Folklife Festival.

    • Support the Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, sustainability projects, educational outreach, and more.
    Support Folklife. Donate Now.

    .