Marquette will host a three-day celebration of the Upper Peninsula's traditional arts Oct. 2–4, with demonstrations, workshops and performances spread across Northern Michigan University and other venues in the city.

The Upper Peninsula Folklife Festival will spotlight Indigenous, European, Scandinavian and Nordic traditions, according to WBUP/WJMN. The festival's website describes the event as a hands-on effort to keep fading crafts alive, with programming that goes beyond watching to active participation.

Dan Truckey, director of the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at NMU, told WBUP/WJMN that the festival grew from concern about losing skills once common across the peninsula.

"These are things that people used to just do as part of their daily lives. Everything from making rag rugs to carving birch bark materials," Truckey said. "There's still people doing it, but not nearly as many as there used to be."

The festival defines traditional folk arts as crafts learned informally, passed from artist to artist rather than taught in a classroom. Its website lists offerings including indigenous beading, canoe building, folk dance, chainsaw carving, felt making, weaving, spoon carving, rag rug weaving and accordion playing.

The lineup includes visual artists Alice Margerum, Amanda Winnicki, April Lindala, Ben Bohnsack, Cheryl Gordon and Fred Livesay, along with musicians Allen Dupras, Ameriikan Poijat, Cloverland, Feltliner Duo and Hiawatha House Band. The Back Room Boys will perform dance and music.

A group of regional arts organizations began planning the festival in 2025, drawing inspiration from the 2009–2011 Upper Peninsula Folklife Festivals that the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center coordinated at NMU. The festival's organizers call this year's event "inaugural," though WBUP/WJMN described it as a return after a hiatus.

Some workshops require registration.

Specific venues, daily hours and admission details have not been confirmed in public materials. The full schedule is available at the festival's website.