The 2015 Folklife Festival concluded on Sunday with the completion of the Q’eswachaka Bridge, a second Festival Community Day celebration of Peruvian culture in the United States, and a late-night dance party for all the participants back at the hotel!

Heavy rain shortened our Independence Day programming at the Folklife Festival, but visitors who braved the weather were able to see music, dance, and crafts traditions from across Peru.

The Folklife Festival grounds filled to the brim on this federal holiday, as thousands of tourists and D.C. residents got an intimate view of some of Peru’s cultural heritage and continued a nonstop schedule of artisan workshops and lively performances.

The Festival’s seventh day brought many important guests. The new Secretary of the Smithsonian , David Skorton, spent his second day on the job exploring the Perú: Pachamama program.

After a two-day break and a relentless overnight thunderstorm, the Folklife Festival returned to the National Mall. Thanks to the efforts of our Smithsonian colleagues and the National Park Service staff, the Festival site was able to open

The first week of the Festival closed with our first of two Community Days, as we welcomed Peruvians living in the United States to share their adaptations of cultural traditions.

Rain drove the Folklife Festival inside today, but that didn’t stop the participants of Perú: Pachamama from sharing their traditional knowledge and artistic talents with the public.

The first Friday of the Festival marked some extra special events. We welcomed Perú: Pachamama’s first four-legged participants: five alpacas from Maryland

The National Mall was filled with the sounds of storytelling, foot stomping, and rope twirling as the 2015 Folklife Festival’s Perú: Pachamama program entered its second day.

The 2015 Smithsonian Folklife Festival opened today with the flare of woolen skirts and the roar of a hundred hand drums. Our Opening Ceremony for the Perú: Pachamama program took place in the National Museum of the American Indian’s Rasmuson Theater