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Champaign-Urbana Folk and Roots Festival »

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On Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26 downtown Urbana will play host to the first annual CU Folk and Roots Festival. The weekend will primarily be focused around events at Race and Elm Streets with musical activities held at the Rose Bowl, Iron Post, Independent

Media Center and Community Center for the Arts among others. Festival activities will include such art workshops as fiber arts and folk art sculptures, musical workshops including a community drum circle, intro to harmonica, guitar styles and banjo styles, and dancing workshops on Irish step dancing, clogging and Yiddish dancing.

Performance artists for the festival range from the local sounds of the Duke of Uke & His Novelty Orchestra and the Hathaways, to the Big Bluestem String Band, Bow-Dacious String Band and the High Cross Road Band.

As stated by the mission statement outlined at the festival web site, the event aims to not only “support and promote local artists, musicians and folk arts organizations,” but also “expose and involve residents to varied and exciting forms of music, dance and art.”

Primarily organized by a six-person steering committee of community members with a vested interest in the art, the CU Folk and Roots Festival is a participatory event in celebration of traditional musical presentations.

An all-event wristband can be purchased for $15, and individual events will range from $3-$10 with a number of free events.