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  • Day One: Top Ten Photos

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    Happy 50th birthday to the Folklife Festival! Our jubilee anniversary kicked off this morning with an Opening Ceremony in the Big Top, with speakers from the Smithsonian and the National Park Service and performances introducing both programs, Circus Arts and On the Move: Migration Across Generations.

    As we celebrate 50 years of celebrating cultural exploration and engagement on the National Mall, Gabi Tayac of the Piscataway Indian Nation reminded us that people have been gathering here for at least 10,000 years. We are honored to call this space home and open up America’s Front Lawn to communities from across the country and around the world. Here, we are all neighbors.

    Join us tomorrow as the festivities continue. National Heritage Fellow Sheila Kay Adams will address some of the newest Americans in a morning Citizen Ceremony, CHELOVE and MASPAZ will lead a screen printing demonstration at their Mural Truck, and the Stars of the Circus will close out the night under the Big Top. Find the full schedule here.

    Elisa Hough is the editor for the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. She is sunburned but stoked for the next two weeks.


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