New Bedford Folk Festival set to return after three years
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WLNE) — The 25th edition of the New Bedford Folk Festival will make it’s return to the city on Saturday.
The festival was absent for three years due to COVID-19
The festival offers over 75 music performances on seven stages in downtown New Bedford. The festival spans from July 9-10.
Jon Mitchell, Mayor of New Bedford, explained, “Its going to be a great weather weekend. There are going to be top notch craftsmen selling their wears here, and there’s all the other stuff that New Bedford has. All the restaurants, all the new ones that have opened up, everything is right there at your fingertips.”
Workshops, food vendors, jam sessions, and more will be offered throughout the two-day festival.
“The New Bedford renaissance is on full display this year,” said Mitchell. “Those people will leave and go back home and tell all their friends what a great experience they had here, how far New Bedford has come in recent years– and that will bring more business and more opportunity for our residents.”
Mitchell says that the recent mass violence across the country has sparked increase safeguards by the city’s police.
He concluded, “Police have to do more planning, and they have to take precautions that they wouldn’t have even dreamed of twenty years ago. But, that’s just the way of the world now, and we have to adjust with the times.”
The New Bedford Whaling Festival began on Thursday, while the Portuguese Feast of the Blessed Sacrament kicks off in the city on August 4th.
