Photo by Dave Parrish
Whats free (with donations welcomed), open to the public and gives you a tour of the world’s music adjacent to the James River? It’s the 19th annual Richmond Folk Festival, running Oct. 13-15 along the downtown riverfront.
The celebration of traditional sounds and culture presented by the nonprofit Venture Richmond draws some 200,000 people. The festival offers six stages featuring more than 30 performing groups. The lineup includes the renowned homegrown salsa machine Bio Ritmo, marking more than 30 years of music making; Cheres, out of New York, is keeping alive Ukrainian folk heritage and is named for a metal-studded leather belt so thick it could ward off bullets; Chris Thomas & His Smoke Dancers, of the New York Onondaga Nation, will perform cultural dance; and Cyril Neville with Omari Neville & The Fuel features members of the well-known New Orleans first family of funk.
