Logo: Susquehanna Folk Music Society
Presenting fine traditional arts in Central Pennsylvania since 1985

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sat, April 6 - A Run For the Arts

A Run For the Arts Harrisburg
Runners, walkers, friends and fans: TEAM SUSQUEHANNA FOLK is "Running for the Arts" in the Capital 10‑Miler, and we need your support! Join our team, sponsor our run, volunteer, or come out to cheer us on. This race benefits many local arts organizations including SFMS. Our goal is to raise $1000 to fund future programming. Saturday morning, April 6 on the riverfront in downtown Harrisburg. MORE

Apply now! - Emerging Artist Showcase

Emerging Artist Showcase York
Roots artists who haven't yet hit it big are invited to apply for our Emerging Artist Showcase, a part of this summer's Susquehanna Folk Festival. Applications will be accepted through April 19. Find out more on our Showcase page. MORE

Sun, April 21 - Caña Dulce y Caña Brava

Caña Dulce y Caña Brava New Cumberland
Caña Dulce y Caña Brava are exceptional performers of son jarocho, a Mexican tradition that combines music, dance and poetry. The group brings a feminine perspective to this historically male-dominated tradition. Evening performance and afternoon workshop on zapateado percussive dance on Sunday, April 21 at West Shore Theatre. MORE

Thu, April 25 - Genticorum

Genticorum York
This trio radiates the joyous energy of Québécois traditional music, with spectacular instrumental work, gorgeous vocal harmonies and exhilarating foot percussion. This will be their third SFMS show, and they have always delighted our audiences. Don't miss this concert! Thursday, April 25 at UUCY. MORE

Wed, May 1 - Natalie & Brittany Haas

Natalie & Brittany Haas Lancaster
Coming together as a duo for the first time, the Haas sisters bring together two brilliant careers and multiple musical worlds. Natalie (cello) is known for her partnership with Alasdair Fraser, Mark O’Connor and others; Brittany (fiddle) for her work with Darol Anger, Crooked Still, Hawktail and more. It’s a collab that’s been a lifetime in the making! Concert on Wednesday, May 1 at Zoetropolis. MORE

Sat, May 11 - Spring Coffee House

Spring Coffee House Harrisburg
Susquehanna Folk Coffeehouses are intimate evenings showcasing Central Pennsylvania's fine amateur acoustic musicians, who play a wide variety of material for an attentive, music-loving audience. Interested in performing? Apply now! FREE Coffeehouse concert on Saturday, May 11 at Fort Hunter Barn, Harrisburg. MORE
logo: 2024 Susquehanna Folk Festival

The best weekend of the summer! August 9-10-11, 2024

The Susquehanna Folk Festival returns on the second weekend of August with world-class performers and hands‑on fun.

AND, our Emerging Artist Showcase returns. Roots musicians are invited to apply now!

Join us at the Appell Center in downtown York, PA for a full weekend of live music, dancing, jams, workshops and more. Watch for headline performers and festival events to be announced soon.

The following grid of images and text-boxes captures the highlights of the Susquehanna Folk Festival planned for August 2024.
Skip to the end of the grid
3 Days of Live Music
audience member applauding
World-Class Headliners
Headline performers!
Regional Favorites
...and regional favorites
A man plays a fiddle
A woman plays a ukulele
Lots of dancing!
Lots of dancing!
Lots of dancing!
Lots of jamming!
Jam Sessions
Emerging Artist Showcase
Emerging Artist Showcase
Emerging Artist Showcase
Emerging Artist Showcase
Two toddlers try out some instruments
Engaging family fun
Children in our Family Parade
Many thanks to our festival partners:
logo: Appell Center logo: Explore York logo: National Endowment for the Arts

The Faces in the Wood

In this Folk Artist spotlight, we check in on one of our Folk Arts Apprentice partnerships. The many-talented Aron Rook (muralist, illustrator and creator) is working with master woodcarver Jim Hiser, learning to sculpt the expressive masks of the Korean folk theater known as Talchum.

A Talchum mask in a shop in South Korea, from Wikimedia Commons, alongside carvings by Jim Hiser. Below, Aron watches Jim demonstrate a technique she's learning.
A Talchum mask in a shop in South Korea, of a laughing man with prominent eyebrows and eyes squinched shut. It is medium-brown wood with black eyebrows and a suggestion of black hair at the very top. Three faces carved in wood and painted to look as though they're carved into a real pumpkin's flesh.  Each is an oval with orange 'rind' around the edges and a green pumpkin stem at the top. The faces are painted golden yellow with peach highlights on cheeks, noses and chins. The faces are of jowly elderly men with very realistic eyes.Aron Rook and Jim Hiser sit together behind a work-table. Aron is a young woman of Asian appearance, with straight black hair. Jim is a portly white man who appears to be in his 60s, with a shaved head and a short white goatee. He is working on a wood-carving held in his lap.

Aron is fascinated by the concept of lineage that runs through her study: her Grandfather Rook and the woodcarving traditions of her adoptive home; her ancestors from Korea and their culture; the many carvers who mentored and taught Jim; and the skills of generations now being passed to her.

The board and staff of the Susquehanna Folk Music Society are committed to celebrating and affirming diverse cultures through programming which explores the music, dance, craft and stories of many people. We stand in complete solidarity with the Black community and all marginalized communities to speak out against injustice, bigotry and racial violence.
A montage of images illustrating Susquehanna Folk's commitment to diversity
Sheila Arnold, an older Black woman with very short hair, holds her fingers up in L shapes, like a frame that she is looking through. She smiles as she speaks to her audience.
A woman’s hands buckle a band of small brass jingle-bells onto a dancer’s ankle. The dancer’s foot is rimmed in red paint, and she wears colorful silk leggings.
King Jester is a young Black man, leaning against a wall as he plays a metallic resonator guitar. He wears a gray T-shirt and is looking down at the guitar.
The three musicians of Alash Ensemble stand on a mountain field, holding traditional stringed instruments. They are all men of Asian appearance, all from Tuva in southern Siberia. They wear the garments of their culture: ankle-length coats of stiffened silk with bright gold sashes, caps with fur trim, and boots.