Events

Join Folk School students, staff, and community for our annual English tradition of the Maypole Parade and Dance in celebration of Spring. This annual event takes place Saturday, May 2. This event is free and open to all, with the procession beginning at Festival Barn at 11:45 a.m. Each year, The Brasstown Morris Dancers and Band lead a parade that begins at Festival Barn and ends at the Maypole located next to Davidson Hall. Once there, dancers dressed in white circle around the maypole to participate in several traditional ribbon dances. Puppets, costumes, and revelry are always part of the Folk School’s May Day celebration. It’s an incredible sight each year.

English Dance with Callers David Millstone & Joseph Pimentel and Bands: Andromeda & Hijinks

English Country Dance with Susan Kevra, Rachel Bell, Jacqueline Schwab

The Folk School features some of the finest regional and national acts performing eclectic roots music. We’ll have standard seating available, first come first serve. We also have a family-focused social area of picnic tables in the back. You’re welcome to bring your dinner, card games, carving, sewing project, or set up on the grass and let your kids play. A donation of $5-15 per adult is suggested, but all are welcome regardless of contribution. Folk School Students and Staff are not asked to donate. Any funds raised support traditional arts and help us strive for equitable pay for performers.

Brasstown Farmer’s Market NC 9-1pm every Wednesday! Join us at 10956 Old Hwy 64W, Brasstown, NC! Representing handmade, homemade and locally grown in WNC and North GA! 🥰❤️👍 The Shoppes of Brasstown are open as well 🙌 Scroggs Farm Shoppe Pine Needles and Things Silva Gallery The Bear

Join us on May 9 for creativity and connection during our Community Workshop Days! These events are organized by Olive's Porch using the John C. Campbell Folk School main campus. Meant to provide access to specialized studios and equipment for local crafters and curious creatives alike. To ensure accessibility, we’ve implemented a sliding fee scale, making this opportunity available to everyone in our local community. Saturday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., there will be 4 featured workshops. Classes offererings include: Paper Marbling & More with Instructor Dea Sasso Jewelry & Metalsmithing: Bangles and Cuffs with Instructor Kristen Wilder Confident Quilting: Heart Applique Pattern with Instructor Andi Bedsworth & Ann Tilley Embellished Baskets for Beginners & Beyond with Instructor Peggy Adelman Participants can enjoy a 6-hour studio experience to explore their craft, learn new techniques, or simply connect with others who share their passion. We'll enjoy a lunch of sandwiches and sides, to celebrate our time together. Lunch is included in your workshop tuition. Olive's Porch values accessibility with both time and resources; you'll see three options for each workshop, a Sponsorship, Standard, and Scholarship Rate. This sliding fee scale has been added for accessibility. · Standard Rate: Participate at regular price. · Sponsorship Rate: Give the gift of craft and help cover the cost for someone else to be in class. · Scholarship Rate: Select this rate if you are unable to attend at the standard tuition rate. This tuition is half of the standard rate and is supported by our sponsorship rate registrations.

The Big Monthly 2nd Saturday Community Dance Series. Dances have brought people together at the Folk School for 100 years. Saturday nights feature some of the best callers and contra dance bands in the world. Newcomers are encouraged as dances are taught for every skill level. Or just grab a seat and enjoy the music! Most Saturday dances feature modern contra on the school's original, community-built oak floor. Other genres such as trad squares, balfolk, swing, two-step, line dance, and waltz are occasionally featured as well. A donation of $10-20 per adult is suggested for our bigger weekend dances, but all are welcome regardless of contribution. Lineup and schedule are subject to change. We hope to see you soon!

The concert begins at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for students of any age registered at any educational venue, and are available at the door; no reservations required, open seating. For information call 828-389-4210 or 828-835-6470, or email brasstownconcertnews@gmail.com

Brasstown Farmer’s Market NC 9-1pm every Wednesday! Join us at 10956 Old Hwy 64W, Brasstown, NC! Representing handmade, homemade and locally grown in WNC and North GA! 🥰❤️👍 The Shoppes of Brasstown are open as well 🙌 Scroggs Farm Shoppe Pine Needles and Things Silva Gallery The Bear

Every third Friday of the month, Olive's Porch hosts a community carving night. Learn how to carve your favorite domesticated and woodland creatures in the style of the Brasstown Carvers. This event is provided free-of-charge to the public through grant-funding so tools and materials are provided. Ages 10+ are invited to participate. Minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Music and dance have been a vital part of the Folk School since its founding in 1925. As we celebrate our 100th year, Centennial Sounds honors this legacy by spotlighting the cultural richness of Appalachian music and the many voices that shape it. This special performance series will feature five headliners whose work expands and redefines the story of Appalachian music. Through these concerts, we aim to create new opportunities for our community in Western North Carolina to experience the full spectrum of Appalachian sound. Admission is $25 for adults and $5 for youth. * Buy tickets online at folkschool.org/sounds Doors 6 p.m. Music 7 p.m. in the Festival Barn Tray Wellington Band Banjo player Tray Wellington’s approach to the quintessential American instrument is all about looking forward. An International Bluegrass Music Association Award winner, Wellington is critically acclaimed not only for his technical prowess, but also for leveraging his unique point of view to craft a one-of-a-kind voice on the instrument. It’s a feat that’s all too rare in these roots genres that seem to value emulation and regurgitation over all else. Instead, Wellington has time and time again reasserted that his playing style, and all of the many varied and disparate parts that combine within it, is wholly his own. Cherokee Language Repertory Choir Opening this special concert is the Cherokee Language Repertory Choir, a group dedicated to preserving and celebrating the Cherokee language through song and performance. This choir uses the Christian Harmony shaped note tradition, but instead of singing it traditionally, in English, they sing in Cherokee. This effort revives a documented tradition of shaped note singing in the Cherokee community while helping to keep the Cherokee language a part of cultural practice in Western North Carolina.