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59th annual Lunsford Festival, 2026
(Saturday Oct. 3, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm, Lunsford Commons)
About the Festival
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 Southern Appalachia. Please join us in honoring the rich cultural traditions of the Southern Appalachian Mountains! In addition to mountain music and dance all day on the upper quad, the festival will also feature an open jam guided by master musicians, a roundtable discussion about banjo-player Carroll Best, a ballad swap, and a Lunsford sing-a-long.
This year, the festival will be happening at the same time as the Madison Heritage Arts Festival on College Street, and MHU’s Homecoming, so it will be a very festive day here in Mars Hill! 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.
A big thank-you to our 2026 sponsors:
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
Parking on campus is extremely limited on festival day. Please take the shuttle that will run from the Ingles on Carl Eller Road to MHU’s campus (you may leave your car in the Ingles parking lot that day – thank you, Ingles!). Click here for directions and a campus map.