The next year, we were. And every year thereafter, so far.

That first encounter of ours was Richmond’s first year of the National Folk Festival, which sets up in a city for three years on the first week in October, presenting a plethora of free folk music performances from Old Time to really, really old-time—Colonial—to African drummers on stilts to contemporary blues and much more. The hope is that the city will continue to run its own festival just like it, but under the city’s auspices—and still free. Last year marked the first Richmond Folk Festival, and it was indeed everything we’d come to love about the National—exactly the same, just with “Richmond” in the logo instead of “National,” and with a different slate of musicians. It’s still volunteer-run—last year, there were 1,200, and 20 local businesses ponied up $1.4 million. Festival-goers help by giving "a drop in the bucket" to t-shirted RFF volunteers. (This year's National Folk Festival is in its second year in Butte, Montana.)

What’s so special about this event? Just from my family’s experience, there are a few things you can expect at this year's outing, October 9 - 11: the extraordinary variety of music , the appeal to all ages (children’s activities, historical reenactors up close and personal, exotic puppetry, story telling), the food (funnel cakes, of course; and Thai, hot dogs, Cajun, cotton candy, more more more—country fair food plus a healthy complement of cosmopolitan cuisine), and the people-watching opportunities—the festival really brings out everyone from families to grandparents to students and everyone in between and beyond. Seriously—you get a lot of variety when 185,000 people show up. That's the count from last year.

Speaking of variety, here's a small sampling of who’s on stage this time:

Clinton Fearon & The Boogie Brown Band—Jamaican reggae

Debashish Bhattacharya—Indian slide guitar

Khogzhumchu—Tuvan Throat-singing

Phil Wiggins & Corey Harris—Acoustic blues

Maggie Ingram—African-American Gospel

Joel Rubin Ensemble—Klezmer

Samba Mapangala & Orchestre Virunga—East African

New this year: The festival is going green, with recycling bins everywhere, and with many vendors using recyclable serving containers and utensils. The resulting compost will go to Tuckahoe Plantation—Thomas Jefferson’s childhood home—as fertilizer. (I think he’d really, really like that.) Benedictine High School is the RFF’s Green Team.

It’s truly something to see—and worth the trip, from well beyond Richmond. It's a festival for of Virginia. Come on down. Or up. Or over.