Welcome to the official site of the AmeriServ Johnstown FolkFest - one of the best free music festivals in the nation! Produced by the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, the FolkFest features more than 70 hours of free music over Labor Day weekend. Celebrating the 11th anniversary of AmeriServ's title sponsorship of the festival!

The Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend (August 31-September 2, 2007)-- Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Festival Park
The Festival Park has been the permanent home of the Johnstown FolkFest since 2004. Located across the river from Point Stadium and beside the Cambria Iron National Historic Landmark, the park provides a beautiful view of downtown Johnstown, including the Inclined Plane and the Johnstown Flood Museum. The permanent festival park is bordered by the stone bridge made famous by the 1889 Johnstown flood, and stretches to the Johns Street bridge. The FolkFest also encompasses the area stretching up past the train station, all the way to the Walnut Street bridge. JAHA's current capital campaign, "Preserving Our Heritage: Revitalizing Our Community," includes funding for Phase I of the park's development. For more, visit the capital campaign page on the Johnstown Children's Discovery Museum portion of this website, which has more details about the capital campaign and how it relates to all areas of JAHA's mission.
The Johnstown Area Heritage Association is developing the park for use by the FolkFest, but also as an asset that will inspire more festivals and other community events throughout the warm-weather months. Currently, JAHA is working with L. Robert Kimball & Associates on a master plan for future development of Festival Park.
The plan, which is still in development, includes a permanent amphitheatre and an adaptive reuse of the "oilhouse," an existing structure on the site. It also includes improvements to Walnut Street, including historic lighting, benches and landscaping. Once the plan is complete, it will be implemented in phases over the long-term, as funding is secured. The master planning is being funded in part by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Westsylvania Heritage Corp.
JAHA is continuing to beautify and improve the festival park. On May 31, 2005, a permanent historical marker was unveiled on the festival park site in memory of the victims of the great Johnstown flood of May 31, 1889. In addition, a grove of 12 large sugar maple trees was dedicated.The trees were provided by Legacy Groves of Somerset County, a program of Kiski Basin Initiatives, to memorialize the victims of Flight 93. The marker and the grove can be seen near the Johns Street Bridge entrance to the park. They are directly beside the Johnstown Urban Greenway, which runs along the side of the park bounded by the river.
The FolkFest will continue to be produced on temporary stages and tents until the master plan is completed and funding is secured to implement it. Other incremental improvements, such as grading, planting and other improvements, will continue on the festival grounds in preparation for FolkFest 2007.
Click here for a festival map. . The "Accommodations, Directions" page of this Web site provides detailed driving directions to the park. The park's address is 90 Johns Street, Johnstown PA 15901.