In 1956, Philadelphia area folk musicians George Britton and Mike Marmel, folk music enthusiast Joe Aronson, and other local folk artists and fans discussed the possibility of creating a group (open to performers and non-performers alike) centered around the performance and enjoyment of folk and traditional music. After further discussion, it was decided that this group would hold nine meetings each year with each meeting consisting of a small performance in an intimate setting. In October of 1957, the group, calling itself the Philadelphia Folksong Society (PFS), had its first official meeting.

In the summer of 1962, PFS decided to establish a larger-sized celebration of folk music at a farm field in Paoli, Pennsylvania (outside of Philadelphia). This event became the first annual Philadelphia Folk Festival. The Festival attracted more than 2,500 people in its first year and the proceeds were used to support the University of Pennsylvania's newly formed Folklore and Folklife Department. The first festival included performances by Pete Seeger and several other well-known folk artists as well as folk workshops.

The poster from the first Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1962

The Folksong Society has continued to hold the Folk Festival annually since 1962, making it the oldest continuously running festival of its kind in North America. (For those of you familiar with the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, that festival started in 1959, but was not held for a few years during the 1970s and 1980s.) Performers at the Philadelphia Folk Festival over the years have included Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Arlo Guthrie, Jackson Browne, Mississippi John Hurt, Steve Earle, Odetta, The Decemberists, Jeff Tweedy, Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, and Alison Krauss. Today, the location of the Festival has moved to Schwenksville in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, but its popularity has not waned; up to 20,000 festival goers attend each year!

In addition to the Folk Festival, PFS holds a number of different programs to preserve and promote folk music and related forms of artistic expression including seasonal retreats called the Fall Fling, Spring Thing, and Cabin Fever Festival and various workshops and community service programs. One program that has been successful for over forty years is the Odyssey of American Music program through which professional folk musicians travel to local schools and use music to enhance the students' understanding of our culture and history.