Ozark Folk Festival

Ozark Folk Festival

Second weekend in OctoberThe Ozark Folk Festival in Eureka Springs, Ark., was first held in 1948 to preserve the music and folklore of the Ozarks. For two or three days, musicians, mostly nonprofessional, gather to play mountain music on fiddles, banjos, jackass jawbones, harmonicas, dulcimers, and other non-electrified instruments. Only traditional Ozark music is allowed, and that means it must be at least 70 years old. Some of the music dates back to Elizabethan times. Also on the menu are performances by jig, clog, and square-dance groups, crafts displays, and a Festival Queen contest.
Eureka Springs, about 50 miles north of Fayetteville, is the oldest health spa in the Ozarks, and the winding streets and houses are much the same as they were in the 1880s.
CONTACTS:
Eureka Springs Advertising & Promotions Commission
P.O. Box 522
Eureka Springs, AR 72632
866-566-9387 or 479-253-7333; fax: 479-363-9380
www.eurekasprings.org
SOURCES:
MusFestAmer-1990, p. 218 (c)