Sam Hinton Folk Festival is Saturday in Poway

The 2016 Sam Hinton Heritage Folk Festival returns from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 9.

This will be the 11th year the festival will be held at Old Poway Park, 14134 Midland Road. The festival was founded in 1967 by legendary folk musician Sam Hinton. Hosted by the San Diego Folk Heritage, the festival is free and open to the public.

The Sam Hinton Folk Festival celebrates the life of Hinton, who passed away at the age of 92 in 2009, as well as his many contributions to the folk music scene throughout his musical career.

This year’s festival will feature a wide variety of acoustic and folk music by San Diego based-musicians, as well as dancing, storytelling, open mike sessions and jam sessions. The festival will be preceded by the Farmers Market from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Rides on the Poway-Midland Railroad will also be available to ride for a nominal fee.

The music will begin at 11 a.m. and run through the end of the festival in the gazebo.

The Levi James Trio will perform at 11 a.m., followed by Chris Clarke and Dane Terry at noon; The North County Bluegrass Folk Club’s house band Homegrown Tomatoes at 1 p.m.; Cassie and Maggie MacDonald at 2 p.m.; Jeffrey Joe at 2:30 p.m.; Enter the Blue Sky at 3 p.m.; and Virginia and Lou Curtiss at 4 p.m.

There are also open jam sessions, under the “sweater tree” behind Templar’s Hall. Bringing a folding chair to sit on is recommended. At 11 a.m. is an Irish session, hosted by Nishi of House of Ireland Musicians. An Old-Time open jam session will be at 1 p.m. hosted by Larry Edwards of Old Time Musicians. Also at 1 p.m. will be a bluegrass open jam session in the picnic area (look for the banner), hosted by Mary Jane Cupp of the San Diego Bluegrass Society.

There will be an open mic set up on the boxcar stage hosted by Lawrence Greene from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., so bring your favorite instrument and come share you talents. Sign-ups begin at noon.

The festival will also have contra dancing, so put on your dancing shoes and get ready to boogie. Contra dancing will be from 1 - 3 p.m. in Templar’s Hall and will be called by Chris Page, with Last Minute Band with Martha Wild providing the music.

The festival wouldn’t be complete without storytelling and there will be a wide variety for you and your family to enjoy.

The stories begin at noon in the Porter House with “Robbers, Outlaws and Other Folks,” followed by “Stories of Strong Women” at 1 p.m. This year’s storytellers include Jim Dieckmann, Linda Whiteside, Marilyn McPhie and Aunt Li-Anne.

A kids open storytelling mic session will begin at 2 p.m., followed by an adults open mic storytelling period at 3 p.m. If you have a story, come tell it to an eager audience. Each amateur storyteller gets five minutes, no notes are allowed, and the story must be appropriate for a public setting. Prizes will be given to all storytellers.

For more information, visit sdfolkheritage.org.