UK Folk Festivals - Mainly Free

Dublin's biggest and best festival of Irish Music and Culture, the Temple Bar TradFest will be back for the 9th year. The festival will include headline concerts in Christ Church, City Hall and The Button Factory. Other highlights include over 200 free events, music trail, singers club, open session, two outdoor stages, the international Celtic Irish dance festival, master classes and showcases, gigs for kids, children's club, pipe bands, street performers and much more.
Now with films and possibly live streaming!

Site not fully updated on our last visit.

Hopefully more details will be available soon.

Multiple venues, appears to be free.
Variety of events and music styles to enjoy over four days of fun in the Inner Hebrides.

A weekend of Scottish music featuring folk-rock bands, fiddle, accordion, dance and ceilidh bands.

The events aren't ticketted, and most are very crowded!

By now a national institution and an international buzz-phrase among the Americana / Roots movement...Ireland's most compact and hospitable music festival, where virtually everything is low-key but high grade.

Mixture of genres. All forms of music under the Americana/Roots banner are well represented over the four days.

Over 80 shows, including 50 free events on the pub gig trail!

A vibrant, family-friendly community gathering featuring traditional dance, music, song, and folklore throughout the town centre on Saturday 11 May 2024. And the best part is, its free!

Witness over 40 dance groups, including 320 dancers and 100 musicians, featuring Morris dancing and diverse European styles.

Join the whimsical journey of our 10ft tall Jack in the Green and Jill in the Green, visiting 12 town centre venues with bands and fantasy beasts.

You’ll can also discover the kid's zone, artisan market, community hub, pagan arts and crafts.

Groove to a samba band, mummers' play, Folk Club stage, Wiltshire Music Centre stage, Blues @ The Shoes stage, live pub music, buskers and more!

Don’t just watch – participate – wear something green and join in the fun.

Includes dance, sessions, celidh, workshops, and music, all set in the delightful surroundings of Weymouth's old harbour

With over 30 live stage performances throughout Saturday and Sunday this is without doubt not one to be missed!
Kicking off on Friday afternoon and evening with singalong folk music sessions in the harbourside pubs, the main festival lasts the whole of Saturday and Sunday with around 30 Morris sides dancing in the streets along the harbourside, fabulous trade stalls, eating, drinking, laughing singing and dancing all weekend long. When the harbour lights go on, the fun and music carries on in the harbourside pubs, way into the night. The challenge is to do the whole weekend and make it to the Survivors' Night on Sunday night at the Sailor's Return!

An international festival based in the picturesque village of Ballydehob, West Cork, featuring maritime and other folk music.
Sea songs, shanties, dance, craft market, maritime food stalls, workshops, sea songwriting competition, busking, music in the pubs and main stage on Ballydehob pier. There will also be an Art Expo throughout the weekend.

Part of a seven day music festival, with Saturday being the folk day.
Rated as one of the top three UK free summer events.

Back with a June date again.

Many Sandwich Pubs will put on Folk music throughout the weekend, there will be street music and dancing.

The Pub events will be free to enter with main events at St. Mary's Arts Centre ticketed, see their website for details.

A free outdoor concert and Saturday and Sunday

It's a festival about guitars - the clue's in the name. So fair bit of acoustic stuff.

A celebration of the guitar. It is not starch collared or stuffy nosed, from virtuosos.

The Festival is run by a small not for profit organisation of music lovers and we are very proud of the rich, relaxed, educational, exciting & artistic environment our festival creates in our beautiful seaside town.

For the duration of our festival our whole town is the stage with performances & events happening in all manner of venue from the local schools & library to the bars & butcher shops!

Sligo Live Sessions is a national festival celebrating traditional, roots and acoustic music. Now in its eighth year, it has carved out a niche as one of the most relaxed, intimate and enjoyable music festivals in Ireland. Sligo Live.

100 events, many free, All Indoors. Intimate Concerts.Street Markets.Over 350 artists.Dynamic pub sessions. Cafe Culture & Sligo Live Showcase.

We have many performances from many acts in 16 venues, as well as storytelling, arts & crafts, talks, morris dancing, open mics and folk music sessions!

Except it will mainly be streaming, apart from workshops.

More info to follow, they say.

POSSIBLE VIRTUAL extras

Filey Folk Festival is one of the mainstays of this North Yorkshire seaside town's musical year. Expect a broad range in styles of folk, blues, country and acoustic performers and bands, and a very warm welcome and a famously friendly atmosphere

Pub gigs run all weekend and admission is free for everyone.

The Jack in the Green Festival is an annual event that takes place in various parts of the gorgeous seaside resort that is Hastings. It's a three day event and attracts thousands every year. This is a true British May Day celebration not to be missed. The four day event has been described as 'thee celebration of Morris dancing and traditional merriment, centering on the symbolic figure of Jack in the Green and culminating in a wild costumed parade - one of the most bizarre in Britain.' The long weekend event includes music of all genres from some of the best local and surrounding areas bands, sun, historic and social events, and is filled with family fun.

Every year the town puts on an amazing line up of musicians. There are a variety of paying and free concerts across the weekend, in both large and intimiate venues. The line up will include old festival favourites and lots of new or local talent

A mostly free Irish and traditional Music Festival in the fishing village of Howth. For one weekend in May, Howth will be filled with Irish music of the past and present.
(Previously known as Howth Trad Festival)

Fishguard's Folk Festival brings together its unique mix of local talent and well-known performers to provide four days of songs, tunes and dance. Most events are still free, and whether you want to play, sing, dance or just watch and listen, there is always a choice of things to do in throughout this fun-packed friendly festival. Add in the beauty of the location on the world famous Pembrokeshire coast and you have the perfect weekend.

A new one for us.

In 2023, the festival will be held at 4 venues across the idyllic village of Hutton Rudby on May 26-28. Finn Forster, Black Sheep Band, Counterfeit Celts and Keith Newby will be part of the line-up for this festival among many others. A craft fair will feature on the Saturday.

In addition to music acts, there will be a folk craft fair, several bars / pubs with food and music and a large family style event at our Cricket Club venue.

Takes place in several locations in Rochdale. I couldn't find many details on the website, just the link above.

Parts of the site are still under development for 2023.

A free family festival celebrating the best in English and World folk music and dance plus poetry, street theatre, art and family fun!

Includes dance, sessions, celidh, workshops, and music, all set in the delightful surroundings of Weymouth's old harbour

With over 30 live stage performances throughout Saturday and Sunday this is without doubt not one to be missed!
Kicking off on Friday afternoon and evening with singalong folk music sessions in the harbourside pubs, the main festival lasts the whole of Saturday and Sunday with around 30 Morris sides dancing in the streets along the harbourside, fabulous trade stalls, eating, drinking, laughing singing and dancing all weekend long. When the harbour lights go on, the fun and music carries on in the harbourside pubs, way into the night. The challenge is to do the whole weekend and make it to the Survivors' Night on Sunday night at the Sailor's Return!

Has three main aims in life

To create an enjoyable event for all involved

To raise money for the RNLI

To preserve and promote the maritime heritage of Falmouth and Cornwall

Celebrating over 30 years of the Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival a fabulous weekend of folk & roots music.

Up to 15 venues host music and dance from lunchtime on Friday through to Sunday night. On the canal-side and in the town centre, artists from around the UK - and beyond.

Also ticketed concerts each day.

A day of folk dance, music and song for all the family in the riverside village of Turvey, Bedfordshire, with dance displays, music session, family ceilidh and evening concert. Come and enjoy the craic and sample the excellent food and beer on offer in the village.

For the 31st time...The UK's biggest free festival.

Across a swathe of indoor and outdoor venues in public spaces around Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, our much-loved event is now widely recognised as the largest free folk festival in the country.
Two ticketed concerts, the rest is free.

Various locations in Oban.

New to our lists, but website looks promising.

With four outdoor music stages, two ceilidh dances and over twenty teams of morris dancers in the streets overlooking Poole's lovely Harbour.

With colourful displays of dance and outdoor stages for concerts and ceilidh and lovely views across the stunning harbour.

For the 29TH time!In the streets and in venues all around the town the best of local performers bring you folk, jazz, blues and world music, colourful dance displays and children's entertainment.

The Beggars Fair has been running since 1993 and is living up to its aims of showcasing local talent in a friendly environment. From big bands on the Cornmarket stage to intimate acoustic music in tranquil gardens, cheerful pub sessions and spellbinding storytelling, the day has a great atmosphere that keeps bringing people (and performers!) back year after year.

A new event, back for its second year.

Takes place in Ayrshire, Scotland.

5th time for this event.
Features dancing, but the rest of the program was not available when last visited.

Several locations around the town.

We have run an MND annual Folk fundraising concert for a number of years now.

The day consists of morris dancing, craft fair, sing around, tune session and an open-air concert at the back of the George Pub.

Go on, it's for charity - turn up, enjoy yourself and donate something to charity.

A festival set in the ancient market town of Melton Mowbray. With Craft fair, local market, Morris Dancing, sing-arounds, music session, outdoor market stage and 13 venues collected around its atmospheric center. Three days of music and mayhem so if you fancy playing or just want to eat the pie - come to Melton Folk Festival.

This is a big fringe, over four evenings. Featuring a great line up, and it's all free!

All events in McBuzz's Barn.

The Fringe Sessions feature a mix of the most exciting emerging talent along with some established heavyweight favourites from across the UK and internationally. Entry is FREE to all music lovers but we have a donations bucket for the artists.

The music is an eclectic mix of many genres - and has included folk/roots, bluegrass, stomp, blues, acoustic, jazzfusion, world and indie rock/pop - plus everything in-between.

The HowthRootsandBluesFestival is a free music festival in Howth showcasing the best in Irish roots and blues artists.

While many of the artists are blues based the festival caters for fans of Country, Rhythm and Blues, Bluegrass, Americanna and reggae. Basically anything rootsy!!

The festival will take place across 6 local venues.

Music, dance, steam and beer. Over 60 acts.

Says it all, really.

Over the years, many tens of thousands of people have enjoyed the unique community atmosphere which the festival generates, the sense of magic, fun, otherness and togetherness which never fails to amuse and amaze its followers. Long may it continue!

A three day event centred on the Nag's Head pub.

You can also view updates on Facebook,
https://www.facebook.com/scalbyfolkfestival

Teignmouth and Shaldon will play host to at least 26 shanty groups performing in 15 venues and providing over 120 hours of "free to attend" shanty singing .
Raising funds for the RNLI, Rowcroft Hospice, Teign Heritage Centre and the Alice Cross Centre.

If you're into shanties, take a trip down to Devon. There's more to Devon life than just the Jurrasic coast.

Teignmouth and Shaldon will play host to at least 26 shanty groups performing in 15 venues and providing over 120 hours of "free to attend" shanty singing .

A mixed genre event, with a folk element for you to enjoy. More than 20 venues and 200 artists (!) to enjoy.

Worcester Music Festival are pleased to announce we will be working alongside Acorns Children's Hospice this year, with the money raised by the festival going towards Acorns' music therapy scheme.

A mixture of free open air entertainment, concerts, music sessions, classic boats, pub sessions and singarounds during the festival weekend. Events take place throughout the old town of Harwich at several local venues.

Lowender, the festival that celebrates Cornish culture and its Celtic connections, is returning to Redruth, Wednesday 25th - Saturday 29th October 2023.
Expect Cornish music, dance, song and fun for all the family with a host of international Celtic performers from Brittany, the Isle of Man, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Music performances, dance sessions and workshops will be taking place in locations across Redruth Town Centre during the 4-day festival, whilst the main evening events will take to the stage at Redruth School.
Tickets are on sale now and kids go free!
This year will see Lowender, which has developed from the Lowender Peran festival, grow into a new organisation where connecting communities and championing Cornwall’s living traditions on a national and international scale is at the core of its values.
For over 40 years Lowender Peran developed an interCeltic festival, creating a powerful network of international friends, celebrating cultural exchange and helping to open Cornish culture to a wider audience.