North Carolina’s largest free music festival returns to downtown Greensboro on September 18, and this year’s headliner is the biggest name organizers have booked.
The Roots, the three-time Grammy-winning hip-hop group that serves as house band for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” headline Saturday, September 19. Molly Tuttle is the other announced headliner. The full lineup runs to 84 artists across 60 genres, including Madison Cunningham, Jackie Venson, Susto Stringband, William Prince, the Afro-Cuban jazz group OKAN, Moroccan musician Samir Langus, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Jacob Sharp of Mipso, Rett Madison, and Greensboro favorites Ranford Almond and Victoria Victoria.
The festival runs September 18 through 20 across five main stages and two auxiliary stages, with more than 50 performances. Every performance is free, with no tickets required. Food vendors, a craft marketplace and dance programming fill out the weekend.
Folklife programming, presented by Creative Greensboro, takes place in the Van Dyke Space at the Greensboro Cultural Center, with sets from the Monroe School of Highland Dance, the NC Youth Tap Ensemble, Royal Expressions Contemporary Ballet, Ritmos Peruanos, the Flamenco Dance Program and Ballet Folklorico Mexican Tradition of Julio Ruiz. A Family Jam runs Sunday morning with kids’ jam sessions and a guided family dance party. The Greensboro Fire Department marks its 100th anniversary on the festival grounds both weekend days.
This is the 11th year for the event, which grew out of the National Folk Festival’s three-year residency in Greensboro from 2015 to 2017. When the national organizers moved on, local leaders launched the North Carolina Folk Festival in 2018. It now draws more than 135,000 people annually and was named a Signature Event of the Southeast in 2025.
The festival runs rain or shine and is open to all ages. Donations keep admission free.
