Family Area at the 81st National Folk Festival

FREE family fun for everyone at the 81st National Folk Festival. The Family Area is open Sat, Aug 27 & Sun, Aug 28 from 12-5pm.

This special interactive area features hands-on crafts, quiet games, active games, and other creative learning activities for young audiences and their families.

The Family Area will also feature a variety of street performances sure to delight festivalgoers of all ages.

Featured Street Performances

A variety of family street performances, including juggling, storytelling, and interactive music and dance—all designed to be enjoyed by both the young and the young-at-heart.

• Gene Tagaban (Guuy Yaau)
• Hālau ‘O Lilinoe
• Lurking Class Skate Shop
• Robert Clarke

FAMILY ACTIVITIES AREA

The Family Activities Area features interactive activities, hands-on crafts, games—both active and quiet—and other creative learning opportunities.

Make-and-Take Activities

• Paint your own eco-friendly birdfeeder with the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art at Salisbury University. Help birds on their way south by supplying food for their trip.
• Create your own paper plate tambourine with the University of Maryland (UMD) Extension. Once it is done, you’ll have your own musical instrument to play while enjoying the festival.
• Make and decorate colorful butterfly wings using coffee filters and pipe cleaners with Lower Shore Master Gardeners.

Animal Ambassadors

Meet the animal ambassadors from the Salisbury Zoo. Staff from the Salisbury Zoo will be roving through the crowds with ambassador animals and educating festival guests about various animals’ characteristics, where they can be found in nature and cool facts on zoo ambassadors and their counterparts in the wild.

All About Bees

Learn all about bees and other pollinators. See the bees in action in a self-contained hive. Make butterflies with colorful wings out of coffee filters, a paper straw, and pipe cleaners. Did you know that butterflies can taste with their feet? Which flowers do butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds like best? Learn their secrets and visit the pollinator garden with flowers for all the pollinators, plus the plants caterpillars need to eat. Find out how to attract pollinators to your own backyard.

Make music at the Mobile Learning Lab

Step inside the Wicomico County Libraries’ new Mobile Learning Lab for some kid-friendly karaoke and to learn about the libraries’ partnerships and outreach programs! Plus, the Paul S. Sarbanes Branch, located downtown, will be holding its semi-annual book sale right around the corner.