ANN ARBOR – The 46th annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival returns to Hill Auditorium for a one-night event on Saturday.
The last festival at the famed venue took place in January 2020 just before the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Michigan. Since then, The Ark moved the festival to a virtual format in 2021 and canceled its planned two-night event at Hill Auditorium in 2022 due to rising cases.
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This year, The Ark has changed the format of the festival with an intimate in-the-round event on Friday night at its venue on Main St. and the big night of music that festivalgoers know and love at Hill on Saturday.
The event on Friday night titled “Banjofest” is sold out, but tickets are still available for the Saturday night show.
“Our community has been extremely generous and supportive over these last 3 years with prolonged closures and show cancellations, but the touring music industry is still struggling to get back on its feet and the pandemic has been particularly hard on small venues like The Ark,” said marketing director for The Ark Barb Chaffer Authier in an email. “This fundraiser, our largest of the year, is always important, but as our first back in person since 2020, it’s more vital than ever.”
This year, singer-songwriters Ani DiFranco and Patty Griffin will be headlining the event with performances by St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Gina Chavez, Oshima Brothers, Kyshona and Jared Deck Band.
Peter Mulvey and Sistastrings will emcee the show with a special appearance by Parker Millsap.
The Ann Arbor Folk Festival is The Ark’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
To purchase tickets, click here.
Hill Auditorium is located at 825 N. University Ave.