Plovdiv International Folk Festival

I entered the tourist center in the old city hoping they could give me some information about hearing/seeing some folk music and dance in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. I had heard about a tourist restaurant that holds nightly shows but I wanted to see if there was anything else. The lady who helped me said they weren’t given any info about music and dance so she couldn’t help me. This is unfortunately a common frustration I have with tourist offices! As I left the office a brochure for a Folk Festival caught my eye. I picked it up and looked, the dates were Aug 1-5 but today was the 6th, darn, I just missed it.

I continued my day and walked along the main pedestrian area of Plovdiv until I arrived at a big square, there was a stage set up with a large banner for the festival I just missed. Hmmm, I thought, “in most places they would have taken the stage down by now”. I continued my walk through a nearby park. Out of the corner of my eye and on the other side of the park, I saw 2 people in folkloric costumes. I thought maybe I was crazy but decided to get a closer look. I ended up following them out of the park to see where they were going. They lead me to right behind the square and stage I had passed by earlier, they stopped for a drink, I continued on until I got to the stage. I stared at the banner, Plovdiv International Folk Festival Aug 1-5, I pulled out my phone and looked at the date and I realized I’m a complete idiot, it wasn’t Aug 6th, it was Aug 4th—I didn’t miss it after all. There were 2 performances that day, one at the square and another at the Ancient Theater, I could still see both.

The festival contained groups from Montenegro, Kosovo, Chile, Georgia, Spain, Brazil, Jordan and 2 groups from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The groups from Brazil and Jordan were performing in another city that day but I got to see all the other groups.