World dances into Springville

SPRINGVILLE — Dancers and musicians from countries around the world will travel to Springville this summer to participate in the 21st annual Springville World Folkfest, one of the largest international folk dance festivals in the United States.

The Folkfest will host groups from all over the globe. About 250 performers and musicians will present six evening performances during the week.

All performances will be at the Spring Acres Arts Park amphitheater located northeast of Springville High School.

In addition, a free street dance will be offered to the public during the Folkfest week.

The Springville World Folkfest is the product of faith, foresight and hard work on the part of people — mostly volunteers — who had a great vision of an annual worldwide cultural exchange based on folk arts.

With a format similar to folk festivals popular in Europe, the Springville World Folkfest held its first performances in August 1986 on a wooden stage constructed over home plate at a Springville baseball field.

Performances eventually moved to the Spring Acres Arts Park, a Springville city-owned and maintained outdoor amphitheater designed specifically to accommodate Folkfest performances. With continual improvements over the years in the Arts Park's lighting, sound, stage and support facilities, the arts park has become a state-of-the-art performance venue that now hosts major concert events in addition to the Folkfest.

More than 200,000 people have attended Folkfest performances since the first Springville World Folkfest in 1986. In 1999, the Springville World Folkfest was honored by being featured on CBS's national morning television show "Good Morning America."

The Springville World Folkfest has received the State of Utah Tourism Award for outstanding tourist events in the state.

More than 4,000 musicians and dancers from more than 45 countries have traveled to Springville to participate in Folkfest performances.

All of the participating countries perform during each evening show. Often, the dance groups bring a selection of costumes and perform different dances on various nights of the festival, making each show unique.

Taped music is not allowed at the festival; instead, groups bring musicians who accompany the dancers with lively folk music using the traditional folk instruments of their countries.