A Weekend of Entertainment, Participation and Exhibits

Along the banks of the historic Suwannee River in White Springs, Florida, folk artists have gathered to celebrate Florida’s land, people, and diverse cultural heritage. Since its humble beginning in 1953, the Florida Folk Festival has not only grown to become Florida’s most prestigious affair, but also named “Florida’s Best Cultural Event.” The festival has recently been recognized by the Southeast Tourism Society as a “Top 20 Event” in the southeastern United States. Get ready for a fun and entertaining weekend for the entire family! Our feature performers are listed below with the evening of their amphitheater performance. Many will be performing or teaching workshops some other time throughout the weekend along with our special guest artists. You can even dance the night away each evening with a variety of dances; and don’t miss dancing with Papaloko & Loray Mistik Sunday evening on the Heritage and Dance Stage. Check out our full schedule of events for specific times and stages.

Jim Stafford

(Sunday Evening)

Winter Haven native; Jim Stafford is a comedian, singer, songwriter, and entertainer extraordinaire. He wrote and recorded his first chart making song, “The Swamp Witch”, produced by his boyhood friend

Kent LaVoie aka Lobo in 1974. He followed with a gold single, “Spiders and Snakes”, which stayed on the American pop charts for 26 weeks. The hits just kept coming and included “My Girl Bill”, “Wildwood Weed”, and the wonderfully satirical “Cow Patti”, written for the Clint Eastwood movie, Any Which Way You Can, in which Jim appeared.

For over 20 years the Jim Stafford show is always named a favorite by audiences and critics alike. The singer, songwriter, comic genius, and entertainer extraordinaire is self-taught on guitar, fiddle, piano, banjo, organ, harmonica and the human brain--he might bring any of them into play at any moment. 417 Magazine, the Springfield News Leader and the Branson Entertainment Awards have voted Jim Best Entertainer, Best Personality and Best Comedy Show. Mayflower Tours has named Jim’s Show as one of their top ten suppliers in North America. Jim wrote many of the songs for which he is famous and has brought his inimitable style to several movie soundtracks. He received a gold record for his work in the Disney movie The Fox and The Hound and writes for many other popular artists.

Jim launched his television career with The Jim Stafford Show on ABC in 1975. His numerous television appearances included music specials, variety shows, and talk shows. He co-hosted the popular prime time show Those Amazing Animals with Burgess Meredith and

Pricilla Presley. Jim also hosted 56 episodes of Nashville on the Road and made 26 appearances on the Tonight Show. In 1987 & 1988, Jim was a regular performer and head writer/ producer for the Emmy-nominated Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Jim’s first love has always been live performance. During his show Jim combines hysterical comedy with masterful performances on the classical guitar as well as with heartwarming stories of the human spirit. Critically acclaimed as the “Victor Borge of the Guitar”, Jim creates hilarious antics from everyday life taking laughter to a new art form. He’ll share his secrets for creating stage presence.

John McEuen & The Circle Band

(Saturday Evening)

Multi-instrumentalist John McEuen, one of the founding members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has introduced his music and creative talents through various formats and forums throughout his signature career. He’s produced television specials, live concerts and music videos; scored music for indie films; he’s made special guest appearances on multiple studio recordings, and he is a syndicated radio show host and book author. In September of 2017, Florida resident McEuen was inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame.

The music he performs is a reflection of early inspirations from his native Southern California (Lightning Hopkins, Earl