The 1984 Festival took place for two five-day weeks (June 27-July 1 and July 4-8) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 12th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of American History.

In the Festival Program Book, its new Co-Directors, Diana Parker and Peter Seitel, took note that 1984 marked a change in Festival administration, noteworthy not because of any change in goals or policies, but because the transition provided the opportunity to recall publicly that it was Ralph Rinzler who began the Festival in 1967 and directed it until 1983 when he became the Institution's Assistant Secretary for Public Service. It was Rinzler who devised the model for scholarly research, planning, and production that made the Festival unique and worthy of emulation by other folklife festival planners around the Nation. He also created an environment in which innovation was enouraged, and cross-fertilization of ideas led to healthy growth. This steady development in the cultural ideas presented in the Festival, Parker and Seitel concluded, had happened under Rinzler's careful supervision and with his guidance at important turning points.

The 1984 Festival included three thematic programs, each of which included a substantial foodways component. Charles Camp served as Foodways Program Coordinator, with Joan Nathan as Consultant and Fieldworker, and Charles Camp, Tim Lloyd, and Phyllis May as Presenters.

The 1984 Program Book provides information on each of the programs.

The 1984 Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service. It was organized by the Office of Folklife Programs.