The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival returns to the Goshen Fairgrounds in Goshen, Connecticut, July 24-26, 2026, preceded by a Pre-Fest Farm Market and Staff Open Mic on July 23. In addition to dozens of artists performing on several stages, a lively dance barn will feature contra & square dancing, Cajun and zydeco, swing, blues, family and community dancing, and, new this year, line dancing. Children’s music and activities, and a wide array of crafts, food and other vendors are also on the docket, while AcousticMusicScene.com hosts late-night song swaps and open song circles under a big white canopy tent.
Now in its 38th year, the popular festival officially kicks off on Friday, July 25 at noon. That’s when 15 artists/acts have been invited to perform in the 2026 Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase on the festival’s Mainstage. Appearing in this year’s showcase are (listed alphabetically by first name or name of group, not in order of appearance) are Aaron Nathans, Beecharmer, David Collier, Diamond Spur Rodeo, Doug Mishkin, Great Aunt, J.M. Clifford, Jacob Vanko, Jim Infantino, Leslie Evers, Maidin, Marion Halliday & Trickster Sister, Rees Shad, Route One, and Vanessa Jones. Although there is no compensation for showcasing artists, each will receive full admission, on-site camping and meals for the festival, plus a guest pass.
The Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase is not a contest, and artists won’t be judged per se during the festival, although the audience is surveyed as to which showcase artists they’d like to see return the following year to participate in a Most Wanted Song Swap. In evaluating submissions, a panel of three judges looked for high-quality performances of interesting, well-crafted, acoustic-based material. This year’s judges were longtime radio hosts Graham & Barbara Dean, Gordon Nash who hosts “Gord’s Gold” on Folk Music Notebook, and folk presenter Barbara Shiller. Performing in this year’s Most Wanted Song Swap will be The Twangtown Paramours, Brian Titus and High Tea.
Notable artists making their Falcon Ridge Folk Festival debuts this year include the Brooklyn, NY-based Damn Tall Buildings, Boston, MA’s Cold Chocolate, and The Star Charters. Among the other artists and acts slated to showcase their talents are The Deb Callahan Band, Tony Furtado and his quartet, Gaslight Tinkers, Vance Gilbert, Greg Greenway, Alice Howe & Freebo, Eileen Ivers & The Brigadeers (who close out the Mainstage on Sunday), David Jacobs-Strain & Bob Beach, Joe Jencks, Jim Lauderdale, Pamela Means, Nerissa & Katryna Nields, Sam Robbins, Shanna in a Dress, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Slambovian Circus of Dreams, The Storycrafters, David Jacobs-Strain and Bob Beach, Tall Travis, and Susan Werner. Mainstage performances extend until 10 p.m. or so on Friday and Saturday nights, while Sunday’s musical festivities wrap up earlier. For those camping on the fairgrounds, there will be some late-night musical revelry featuring an array of informal jams, unplugged artist showcases, and song circles that help foster a sense of “folk” community and a different kind of festival experience.
For many years, AcousticMusicScene.com arranged and hosted pre-arranged song swaps and open song circles under a big white canopy tent. Following an extended hiatus, AcousticMusicScene.com did so again last summer in partnership with Tribes Hill, an organization uniting musicians and their patrons in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley, and will host open song circles this year as well.
“From its humble beginnings (in 1988], the festival soon acquired a life of its own,” according to Anne Saunders, Falcon Ridge’s artistic director. “It is not just a physical event, but a state of mind and of spirit that you could go back to again and again whenever the grind of workaday obligations and stresses called for it.” She noted: “Many longtime attendees say the physical act of attending each year is a recharging of the creative and spiritual batteries for them. And that Falcon Ridge is much like the mythical kingdom of Brigadoon, a place of light, love and magic that exists for one weekend each year. It unfolds, happens, and then recedes into the mists with the certainty of next July’s reappearance.”
Three-day festival tickets are $250 with camping or $175 without camping. Single -day tickets without camping also are available for $65. All three-day tickets include Pre-Fest Thursday admission, while tickets for Pre-Fest Thursday also can be purchased for $20 at the gate. Children 12 and under will be admitted free, while tickets are heavily discounted for teens. The campgrounds will open by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 23. There is free parking on-site. Festival attendees are advised to bring and use their own chairs and blankets. More information on the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, as well as details on Mainstage performances to be livestreamed, can be found at falconridgefolk.com.
EDITOR’s NOTE: AcousticMusicScene.com has one pair of three-day festival tickets to give away to a lucky reader who emails editor@acousticmusicscene.com with a paragraph explaining what you most enjoy about the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival or why you’d like to attend for the first time. Emails must be received by Sunday, July 12 at 12 p.m. ET for consideration.
