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!

August 29-31, 2008 -- Johnstown, Pennsylvania

FolkFest FAQs
Select a Topic Here Where are the festival grounds located? Is there an admission charge? Who produces the FolkFest? How did the FolkFest get its start in Johnstown? How do I get to Johnstown? Where do I park? Can I take a shuttle? Where can I stay? What is "scrip"? What about food and beverages? What should I bring to FolkFest? Does the festival go on, rain or shine?
Where are the festival grounds located? Since 2004, the FolkFest has taken place in Johnstown's new festival park. This park is being developed by JAHA as a permanent home for the Johnstown FolkFest and other festivals, and will hopefully inspire more such events throughout the warm-weather months. 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. Festival signage will direct you to the new park once you're in the downtown Johnstown area--if you can find Johnstown, you can find the new park. Click here for a downloadable, updated map of the new festival park in PDF format, showing how the park will be laid out for the 2007 festival. The festival is produced on temporary stages and tents. Beautification work, including grading, planting and other improvements, has taken place on the festival grounds, and more is planned. Permanent structures are planned in future phases of the park's development, after a comprehensive master planning process is funded and completed. Visit the Festival Park page for more on these plans. Free shuttle service is available.
Is there an admission charge? No! The FolkFest is free, making it an affordable event for everyone. The Johnstown Area Heritage Association underwrites the event through sponsorships and the use of festival scrip. But there are a variety of ways you can help support the FolkFest, including: Become a member of JAHA. Depending on the level of membership you choose, you'll get a wide range of membership benefits -- including FREE admission to all our museums year-round. Click here for a downloadable membership application with detailed information about the membership levels and benefits for individuals and businesses. Purchase a VIP sponsorship -- new details for 2006! The VIP parking lot is located along Washington Street between Walnut and Johns Streets. For a $75 contribution, VIP parkers will receive: a parking pass for the VIP lot; and two laminated credentials that will give you entrance to the VIP lounge, located in the train station (see the 2006 map of festival grounds for the train station's location)! This lounge will feature comfortable seating, a cash bar with beer, wine and mixed drinks, and best of all -- flush toilets. Additional laminated credentials will be available for $20 each. We'll send out reminders about purchasing VIP parking passes about a month before the festival; if you'd like to be on that mailing list, contact Gwen Hartnett at 814-539-1889, x301. Make a donation to the FolkFest Endowment Fund. This fund is administered by the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies and is designed to help fund the festival forever; call 888-280-7741 for details Become a FolkFest volunteer. Hundreds of volunteers are needed before, during and after the festival -- it simply couldn't happen without them. Shop JAHA's online store.. Every purchase you make at the Johnstown Area Heritage Association's online store helps support all of JAHA's events and programs, including FolkFest. You can purchase FolkFest merchandise online, too!
Who produces the FolkFest? FolkFest is produced by the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, a non-profit that exists to preserve and showcase Johnstown's nationally significant stories to the nation. To do that, JAHA provides high-quality educational, cultural and recreational experiences in the area's unique historic settings. We operate three museums, the Johnstown Flood Museum, which tells the story of the 1889 Johnstown flood; the Wagner-Ritter House & Garden, a house museum interpreting the domestic lives of 18th-century immigrants to the historic Cambria City neighborhood; and the Frank & Sylvia Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center, which tells the story of immigrants to Cambria City in the late 19th and early 20th century. A Children's Discovery Museum is currently under development. In addition, JAHA holds a variety of additional special events throughout the year as well. In this way, we support the local economy by bringing positive national attention and visitors to our area. The FolkFest is a wonderful program that helps JAHA provide a great experience for local residents, focus national attention here and bring people to visit. Along the way, everyone has a terrific time. Click here for more information about JAHA as an organization.
How did the FolkFest get its start in Johnstown? JAHA has produced the FolkFest for 16 or 12 years-depending on how you count it. With the help of City and Commonwealth officials, JAHA recruited the National Folk Festival to Johnstown in 1990 for a three-year run, raising the necessary funds to do so. The National Folk Festival brings "legendary masters and the next generation of dynamic young artists to celebrate the musical soul and cultural roots of America." After the National Folk Festival's three years were over, JAHA picked up the reigns and began to produce the event on its own, renaming the event the Johnstown FolkFest; AmeriServ Financial became the title sponsor a year later, and the AmeriServ Johnstown FolkFest came into being. JAHA's music programming has continued the National Folk Festival's mix of legends and cutting-edge newcomers representing all genres of American music. Past performers at the Johnstown FolkFest read like a "who's who" in traditional music, bringing artists to Johnstown who might never play here otherwise; and because the festival is free, festivalgoers have the opportunity to sample types of music they might not have heard before. The festival has developed a national reputation for its high-quality programming, and best of all, it's still free. Click here to find out more about the festival's history.
How do I get to Johnstown? Johnstown is a small city in western Pennsylvania that's easily accessible from most major cities in the region, including Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C. For detailed driving instructions, click here.
Where do I park? There is abundant parking available in downtown Johnstown -- simply drive into town and look for signage directing you to one of the city-owned garages. In addition, a limited amount of free street parking is available. A free shuttle will take you directly to the festival grounds. Clearly-marked shuttle stops will be conveniently located at all parking garages. Click here for more information on parking locations. As you're parking, please watch carefully for the many pedestrians making their way to festival grounds. A dedicated handicapped parking lot will be available at the corner of Washington and Johns, through the courtesy of Suppes Ford. Handicap parking spaces are available in the city-owned parking garages downtown, and a shuttle will provide transportation to the festival grounds. All shuttles are handicap accessible. To use handicap parking spaces, your car must be clearly marked with a state-issued permit or license plate tag. Violators will be ticketed or towed. If you'd like to park closer to the festival and also help support it, you can purchase an individual sponsorship that includes a space in a special lot close to festival grounds. The VIP parking lot will be located along Washington Street between Walnut and Johns Streets. For a $75 contribution, individual sponsors may park in this special lot close to the festival grounds, and also receive two laminated passes to a sponsor lounge located in the train station. For more about this program, visit the Scrip, Shuttles & Parking page on this site, or contact Gwen Hartnett at 814-539-1889, x301.
Can I take a shuttle? Festivalgoers are encouraged to take a free FolkFest shuttle to the festival grounds. Shuttles will circle downtown Johnstown picking up anyone parking in the downtown garages. In addition, the Inclined Plane will be free during the festival--riders may take a free shuttle from the corner of Vine and Union, or simply walk the few blocks to the festival grounds. Shuttles will be available on an ongoing basis beginning one hour before the scheduled opening of the festival and end one hour after the scheduled closing of the festival. Click here for more information about shuttles and parking. Please note that the FolkFest is no longer running a shuttle from the Hiram G. Andrews Center in Upper Yoder, due to decreased usage and rising gas costs. However, the Log House Arts Festival is running its own "yellow school bus" shuttle, with stops at the Hiram G. Andrews Center, the Log House Arts Festival, and FolkFest (the Johns Street Bridge entrance). The Log House "yellow school bus" shuttle will only run during that festival's days, which are Saturday, September 1 and Sunday, September 2, and from the hours of 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Where can I stay? The Johnstown area offers a wide variety of comfortable lodgings. Click here for a detailed list, including locations and phone numbers. You'll also find contact information for local convention & visitors boards that can help you find accommodations not included on our list, as well as nearby camping facilities.
What is "scrip"? When you come onto festival grounds, you'll see one of several booths where you can purchase scrip, which you then use to purchase all food and drinks from official FolkFest vendors. In short, scrip is festival currency! Scrip must be purchased with cash; we are unable to accept credit or debit cards, but there will be an ATM machine located on festival grounds. Through the use of scrip, the Johnstown Area Heritage Association collects commission on food and beverage sales to help cover hard costs associated with FolkFest, which total about $300,000. In this way, we're able to keep the festival free.
What about food and beverages? No one ever goes hungry at the FolkFest! Each year, FolkFest brings the best ethnic and festival foods to the area. There will be endless choices of tempting festival and ethnic foods such as Italian sausage, Chinese lo mein, pit turkey & ham, Thai noodles and more as well as regional favorites such as funnel cake. In addition, the Festival Pub serves an assortment of beer and hard lemonade. The Community Kitchen, new in 2004, gives festivalgoers the opportunity to support local non-profit organizations and churches who come to serve their homemade specialties at the festival. The Community Kitchen will be along the main festival midway -- watch for it! A map of all FolkFest food vendors, including menus and locations, will be available at the information booth during the festival. For more about the food available at FolkFest, click here. All food and beverages from official FolkFest vendors must be purchased with festival scrip. This allows the Johnstown Area Heritage Association to collect commission on food and beverage sales, which helps underwrite festival costs.
What should I bring to FolkFest? Basically, yourself, your family and friends! There is ample seating at each of the four mainstages, as well as several rest pavilions where you can sit and eat -- so bringing a chair is not necessary. FolkFest also asks that you not bring coolers. The scrip booths are unable to accept credit or debit cards, so we suggest bringing cash; in 2007, however, there will be an ATM machine available on festival grounds. Finally, for the health and safety of all our guests we ask that you please do not bring your dog; (of course, guide dogs are welcome).
Does the FolkFest go on rain or shine? Yes! The stage and audience areas of all four stages are completely covered by tents, and there are several tented eating pavilions for our patrons' comfort. The tents keep our guests more comfortable in very sunny weather or in rain!