Folk Life Festival

Celebrating Culture & Heritage

Virgin Islands National Park’s Annual Folk Life Festival celebrates and promotes the rich culture of the Virgin Islands every February, Black History month. This year marks the 33rd year of the festival that is sponsored by Friends of Virgin Islands National Park.

2024 SCHOOL CULTURE DAYS
Culture days for the three St. John schools will take place at the end of February.

Special thanks to the culture bearers, performers and artisans who participate every year and for their dedication to keeping Virgin Islands culture alive for generations to come! As they bring the past to our youth today, so they ensure a strong, bright future built upon the ancient knowledge of island ancestors!

Video title screengrab

Passing It On To Another One Documentary

Enjoy this illuminating celebration of the cultural gifts of the Virgin Islands. The entire documentary filmed in 2021 is available for viewing as well as short segments featuring interviews with a moko jumbie, a storyteller, a maubi maker, a beekeeper, and more cultural ambassadors.

Watch Here
2011

Folk Life Festival Posters

Each year a local artist creates a poster for the festival.  Enjoy this gallery!

Visit Gallery

GALLERY

A basket with plants
A kid blowing on a shell
A group of children listening to music
skirts in checkered design
An old man holding a plant
kids on a counter in a festival
A child looking at wooden artifacts
A group of young women taking notes about the artifacts
Children lining up to use the telescope
Children attending a music session
A wood item being carved out
The team incharge of accepting donations
Children using instruments
Young boys playing brass intrusments
Plant stalks bundled together
A girl waving her skirts
Two girls holding hands
A person playing a percussion instrument

A look back at Folk Life Festival 2015

video provided courtesy of the NPS and Esther Francis