East Lansing's folk festival tradition is coming back to life. The inaugural Red Cedar Roots Festival will take over Albert Avenue between M.A.C. Avenue and Grove Street on Friday, Aug. 14, and Saturday, Aug. 15, bringing live music and dance to downtown for the first time since the Great Lakes Folk Festival went on hiatus in 2017.

Friday performances run 6–9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15's lineup goes 5–9:30 p.m.

The event is the product of a committee formed in 2024, with members from the city's Arts Commission and Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission. After months of discussion and hundreds of public comments, the group determined a revival was feasible, according to the city's festival page.

Festival coordinator Julie Levy-Weston, who served as technical coordinator for the Great Lakes Folk Festival from 2002 to 2017, is leading the effort. "Our team is excited to present Michigan artists who perform traditional music and dance from a wide range of cultural backgrounds," Levy-Weston said in a July 9 city announcement.

The lineup so far features Lansing's Yamini Kalluri and the Kritya Dance Ensemble. Kalluri, a professional Kuchipudi dancer and founder of the Kritya Foundation nonprofit, will perform Saturday with the Kritya Music Ensemble, accompanied by singer Rohith Jayaraman, Nattuvangam artist Vivek Ramanan, mridangam percussionist Shubha Chandramouli and violinist Hari Padmanabhan. On Friday, Aug. 14, two of her students, Shruthi Ailneni of Lansing and Sushma Gurram of Dallas, Texas, will perform classical Indian dance pieces, according to a July 21 city news release.

Michigan-based band Wilson Thicket rounds out the announced acts. The Metro Detroit quartet blends bluegrass, Appalachian, folk, blues, soul and country, with members including three-time CAMMY Award winner Jason Dennie on mandolin and Keith Billik on banjo, who earned a 2022 International Bluegrass Music Association award nomination.

The Red Cedar Roots Festival picks up a thread that stretches back to 1999, when East Lansing beat out Seattle and Los Angeles to host the National Folk Festival. That event ran through 2001 and spawned the Great Lakes Folk Festival, which drew 50,000 to 80,000 visitors over three-day weekends until it was put on hiatus in 2017. East Lansing Councilmember Mark Meadows, a leading advocate for the revival, told East Lansing Info in October 2024 that bringing the festival back was one of his objectives upon taking office.

Organizers describe the Red Cedar Roots Festival as a prelude to what they hope will become a full-scale annual folk festival again.

Volunteers are still needed. Updates and a signup link will be posted at cityofeastlansing.com/RedCedarRootsFest.

What to know