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2025 Lunsford Festival (Oct. 4)
About the Festival
The Lunsford Festival is an all-day festival celebrating regional music and dance traditions. The event is the second longest-running folk festival in Western North Carolina and was named in honor of Bascom Lamar Lunsford, who was a musician and folklorist who dedicated his life to collecting and promoting the music of the Southern Appalachians.
The festival brings out the region’s finest musicians, ballad singers, and dancers and it happens on the same day as the Madison Heritage Arts Festival, so Mars Hill is abuzz. Join us in honoring the rich cultural traditions of the Southern Appalachians! More information coming soon.
Please direct questions to Leila Weinstein at (828) 689-1115 or lweinstein@mhu.edu.
The Ramsey Center is a proud site on the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina.
Thank you to our generous 2024 Festival Sponsors and Partners
While you’re waiting for 2024 to roll around, please enjoy the 2020 virtual festival:
Trying out a potter’s wheel
MHU’s Bailey Mountain Cloggers
Madison County Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) students playing “backstage”
Angel Ridge Farm demonstrates a spinning wheel
Making apple butter
Twirling at the festival
Parking
There is NO PARKING at the venue this year. You may either park on campus and walk the Greenway to the soccer fields OR use the festival shuttle, servicing both the Lunsford Festival and the Madison Heritage Arts Festival. The shuttle will run from 8 am until 5.30 pm between the Ingles on Hwy 213 (where you can park your car) and the festival location.