Rhode Island Folk Festival showcases local & national acts along with a couple legends

Rhode Island as a whole has a stellar array of musicians within its local Americana, folk and singer-songwriter scene. Go to an open mic night in Providence, a coffee shop in South County or one of the numerous bars, venues and restaurants that inhabit “The Ocean State” and you’re bound to see someone performing excellently while singing into a microphone and strumming an acoustic guitar. There are plenty of bands that are part of this community as well and you can catch some of them doing their thing on a weekly basis at your neighborhood establishment. Celebrating this while including performers from other areas, the Rhode Island Folk Festival is returning to Rose Larisa Park in East Providence on Aug. 25. This is the 10th edition of the festival and there’s going to be an abundance of great music being played all over the premises from noon to 6 p.m.

As with past editions, the 501(c)(3) organization Hear In Rhode Island puts on and produces the Rhode Island Folk Festival. Headed by local musician John Fuzek, the organization’s primary goal for the past 20 years has been to create free music festivals that showcase folk singer-songwriters on both a local and national level.

“The festival will feature three stages of acoustic-themed music,” the Rhode Island Folk Festival states on their website at rhodeislandfolkfestival.com. “The Band Shell Stage features national acts and Rhode Island’s top bands, the Songbird Stage on the other end of the park, features the alternative side of folk and the Gazebo Stage is in between the two stages for shorter sets by Rhode Island’s top artists. The festival is a great opportunity to get a good dose of the Rhode Island sound as well as some classic performances. Food and art vendors will be set up along the path among the three stages so that your senses will be delighted everywhere you go at the event!  We hope you can make it this year!!”

One of the main performers at this year’s festival is the New England folk legend Tom Rush, who is originally from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He’s going to be performing on the Band Shell at 4 p.m. with folk troubadour Matt Nakoa sitting in with him for a few songs while playing some of his own. Tai Awolaju and Andrew Moon Bain from the Providence funk-soul act Boo City are also going to be playing on the same stage earlier in the afternoon along with Lisa Couto and Melanie Moore, Michelle Malone, Ed McGuirl and many others. Craig Wreck, Olivia Charlotte from Undercover Cameo, Mark Cutler and indie rocker Divey will be some of the many acts performing on the Songbird Stage while the Gazebo Stage will be having the largest lineup of the festival with Kim Petrarca, John Juxo, Dave Alves, Beth Barron, Dave Flamand and Dan Blakeslee performing to name a few. Cutler, a Cranston resident, is going to be conducting a songwriter’s workshop at the festival while Barron will be co-hosting the entire thing with fellow musician Anthony Loffredio.

To know all the details pertaining to performers, sponsors, schedule, vendors and everything else related to the Rhode Island Folk Festival, you can either log onto the website that was previously mentioned, or follow their social media pages. There’s their page on Instagram at instagram.com/rifolkfest, on Facebook at facebook.com/TheRhodeIslandFolkFestival and on X at @rifolkfest. Along with the festival being free, it’s also family-friendly, so make sure to attend while closing out the weekend in a fantastic way.