Established in 1975 by Professor Gillespie, the New Jersey Folk Festival (NJFF) is the oldest continuously run folk festival in the State of New Jersey. Managed by a small team of Rutgers undergraduate students, the festival traditionally attracted over 15,000 people and was one of the City of New Brunswick’s largest regularly scheduled events.

The mission of the New Jersey Folk Festival was to preserve and protect the music, culture, and arts of New Jersey. Therefore, the main focus of this festival was the traditional music, crafts, and foods of the diverse ethnic and cultural communities within the state and its surrounding region.

Typically, the event featured three to four stages of music, dance, and workshops, a juried craft market, a children’s activities area, a delicious array of food choices that offers everything from hamburgers, vegetarian fare, and funnel cake to a wide variety of ethnic foods, a folk marketplace, and a heritage area which offered a close-up look at each year’s cultural or geographical theme or other appropriate exhibits.

Each year the festival tried for diversity in selecting performers, not only seeking out traditional “American” artists, but also reaching out via fieldwork to the many ethnic communities found within New Jersey. The annual ethnic or regional feature contributed an essential intimate connection to these varied cultural groups represented in the state’s population.

Gillespie served as Executive Director of the NJFF from 1975 to 2019, when leadership was transferred to Dr. Maria Kennedy and Co-Director Dr. Carla Cevasco.

List of New Jersey Folk Festivals under Gillespie Leadership

2019- Best of the past 4 years (45th Annual)

2018- Native Americans of New Jersey

2017- Turkish Traditions

2016- Bluegrass Showcase

2015- Maritime

2014- 40th Anniversary

2013- Garifuna Folk Culture

2012- Bulgarian Folk Culture

2011- Kalmyk Folk Culture

2010- The Andes

2009- 35th Anniversary Celebration

2008- German-American Traditions

2007- Dominican-American Traditions

2006- Charm of Korea

2005- Norwegian-American Traditions

2004- 30th Anniversary Celebration

2003- Mexican-American Traditions

2002- Blues & Gospel

2001- Portuguese-American Traditions

2000- Women in Folk

1999- Silver Jubilee Celebration

1998- Chinese-American Traditions

1997- India

1996- South Jersey

1995- Puerto Rico

1994- 20th Anniversary Celebration

1993- Lebanon

1992- American Indians

1991- Haiti

1990- Greece

1989- Ireland

1988- Sweden

1987- Philippines

1986- Italy

1985- Scottish Traditions in America

1984- Cuban Ties

1983- Hungarian-Americans

1982- Holland-American Culture

1981- 200 Years of NJ Agriculture

1980- New Brunswick Folklore

1979- Folk Heritage

1978- Folk Heritage

1977- Folk Heritage

1976- Folk Heritage

1975- Folk Heritage