Family Area

Presented by the Children’s Museum of Richmond, The 2024 Richmond Folk Festival Family Area is open Saturday and Sunday, September 28 and 29.

The 2024 richmond folk festival family area is buzzing with EXCITEMENT!

It’s a Bug Bonanza with CMoR and friends in the Richmond Folk Festival Family Area! Create your own bug version of our iconic bag hat, get your hand painted or craft a cool balloon creation. In the Discover area, search for bizarre bugs while learning interesting facts, check out a live (behind glass) beehive with Master Gardeners sharing information about these amazing pollinators or design and create a Lego brick habitat for our pollinator friends to Build the Change! If you have lots of energy, Soccer Shots is the spot for you or if you desire a quieter option, our friends at ASCV will have a sensory zone with bead bracelets. City Singers will help you connect music to insects and the National Park Service will be back ready to ‘bug out’ with cool crafts. No matter how you like to play, there is something for everyone at this year's Richmond Folk Festival Family Area presented by the Children’s Museum of Richmond.

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Performers on the Family Area Stage

Featured
Acme Miniature Flea Circus
Acme Miniature Flea Circus

flea circus
Providence, Rhode Island via Barcelona, Spain

Watch renowned psycho-entomologist Professor A.G. Gertsacov as he displays his trained fleas, Midge and Madge, the diminutive stars of his Victorian-style flea circus. These educated insects will perform death-defying circus stunts and stunning sideshow antics as seen before (and on top of) the crowned heads of Europe.

Kid Pan Alley
Kid Pan Alley

Washington D.C., Virginia
Kids/Family Friendly

Kid Pan Alley began 25 years ago with a songwriting residency at Rappahannock Elementary led by Trapezoid’s Paul Reisler. The 60 songs they wrote there have grown into a catalog of over 2,800 songs written, 2 musicals, and 6 albums written with over 80,000 kids across the country from Virginia to Hawai’i.

Ramona Martinez
Ramona Martinez

honky tonk
Charlottesville, VA

Ramona Martinez is a honky tonker based in Charlottesville, Virginia, whose music recalls classic country from the 1950s and 60s. A prolific singer-songwriter, her sincere and heartfelt music has been described as "incredibly relatable" and "earnest.

Silly Bus
Silly Bus

Kids/Family Friendly
Richmond, VA

Silly Bus inspires children of all ages to listen, laugh, and learn. Performing fun, poppy originals and fresh takes on "classic" children's songs, Silly Bus celebrates fond memories while creating new ones for the entire family. With nearly 8 million YouTube views and its music performed on SiriusXM, the Today Show, and national PSA campaigns, Silly Bus enjoys entertaining families worldwide.

View the full Family Area Stage Schedule

Check out the full Family Area Stage Schedule on our Schedule page.

Fun activities await in the family area!

Create

CMoR’s iconic Bag Hats are back at the Richmond Folk Festival Family Area with a buggy twist! We’re excited to see all the creative versions that will emerge.

Discover

Learn interesting bug facts as you explore different sensory habitats for creepy crawlies or help to Build the Change, coming up with unusual solutions for supporting pollinators and creating models using Lego bricks. Festival goers can also see a real live bee hive (safely behind glass) and learn more about these amazing pollinators from our Master Gardener friends. Yard games, Balloon creations, and hand painting will be part of the fun too!

City Singers

Visit the City Singers Percussion Tent at the Richmond Folk Festival where your little bug can flit from drums to xylophones and more! Explore instruments and songs from around the world with City Singers staff, and learn the connections between music and insects; they're closer than you think.

Autism Society of Central Virginia

Take a sensory break and create bug-eyed bead bracelets at the Autism Society of Central Virginia tent at the Richmond Folk Festival.

Soccer Shots

Soccer Shots will provide plenty of fun for the kiddos (ages 2-10)! The inflatable soccer field will return to the Richmond Folk Festival to provide a space for safe play, games, goal scoring, and prizes!

Swear in with the National Park Service at the Richmond Folk Festival’s Family Area!

EVERY KID OUTDOOR PARK PASS STATION

Fourth graders can stop by the National Park Service tent in the Richmond Folk Festival Family Area to pick up their FREE National Park pass. The Every Kid Outdoors program was created to get kids ages 9 to 10 outdoors and into National Parks. This unique pass is FREE to all fourth graders. The pass will allow the fourth grader and their family FREE entry into all National Parks and other federal public lands for an entire school year. Come by the print station tent in the Family Area on Saturday or Sunday to print your pass. 

RICHMOND FOLK FESTIVAL JUNIOR RANGER PROGRAM

Calling all kids! A child's visit to a National Park wouldn't be complete without earning a Junior Ranger patch. The Richmond Folk Festival takes place in the backyard of Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site's contact station at Historic Tredegar. Explore the festival and Historic Tredegar through a one-of-a-kind Junior Ranger booklet created just for this event. Pick up your Richmond Folk Festival Junior Ranger booklet at the National Park Service tent in the Family Area on Saturday or Sunday, complete the activities, then bring it to the Junior Ranger Swearing-In Ceremony at the Family Stage to earn a limited-edition Richmond Folk Festival Junior Ranger patch!

JUNIOR RANGER SWEARING IN CEREMONY

Join National Park Rangers on the Family Stage to be sworn in as official Junior Rangers of the Richmond Folk Festival. Participants get a unique Richmond Folk Festival Junior Ranger Patch. (Times TBA)

BUG OUT WITH NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Come to the National Park Service tent to "bug out" with crafts! Create your very own popsicle stick ladybug or bumble bee to display at home. Put your favorite insects out for everyone to see, decorate a paper park ranger flat with all of your favorite insect stickers.