Thursday, July 12, 2018

Museums: Smithsonian Folklife Festival (Part 1 of 2)

For more than 50 years, the Smithsonian has sponsored a Folklife Festival on the National Mall.  The festival has evolved over the years and has recently featured countries, regions, agencies and organizations, and some U.S. states.  

This year, the Folklife Festival features the culture, crafts, music and food of Armenia and Catalonia. The festival is located on the National Mall near the Smithsonian museums.  


We visited the fun and festive event on July 4th with daughter Sally.    


Armenia:  The Armenia exhibition featured food, crafts, music and culture.  We especially enjoyed a traditional Armenian folk music ensemble, a calligraphy artist at work, and a very happy stone carver.





Market Place:  In addition to the exhibitions, the Smithsonian hosts the Market Place, with crafts from around the world, including fashion from Africa.  Greg especially enjoyed the Market Place--not because of the bargains, but because the Market Place was air conditioned. 


Next Up:  Catalonia!

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