The most recent spin-off is the North Carolina Folk Festival.

[4][5][6] The National Folk Festival in the United States (known also as the National) was founded by folklorist Sarah Gertrude Knott and first presented in St. Louis in 1934.

Some of the artists presented at the first festival are now legendary and the recordings and other documentation made possible by the National are precious.

Handy's first performance on a desegregated stage was at the 1938 National.

It was the first event of national stature to present the blues, Cajun music, a polka band, a Tex-Mex conjunto, a Sacred Harp ensemble, Peking opera, and others.