The new FolkFest has been set June 9-16, 2013 here in Murfreesboro. Again, the Cripple Creek Cloggers are coordinating this cultural exchange week that exposes our community to visitors from around the world. 

Cripple Creek founder Steve Cates said, "We have confirmed all groups for Folkfest 2013. They include Mexico, Turkey, France, and Hungary--a folk group that we worked with them in Lithuania." 

He noted that public performances here in Murfreesboro will remain the same and the Heart of Tennessee will remain the center of coordination. However, the Thursday night public performance has been moved to Franklin for 2013.  It had been in Manchester for several years. The full-show on Friday night will remain in Murfreesboro along with the free public performance on Saturday. 

In addition to visits from dance troupes from distant lands, the Cripple Creek Cloggers have taken the Murfreesboro banner to other place for over 45-years. Cates is scheduling the group now for performances in Vienna, Austria next summer. 

The Cripple Creek Cloggers were started by local educator Steve Cates in 1967 as a 4-H project. From those early days at the old Kittrell School, the Cripple Creek Cloggers have shared Appalachian folk dancing locally and around the world. The FolkFest is the result of that.