How did the festival get its start in Johnstown?
With the help of City and Commonwealth officials, JAHA recruited the National Folk Festival to Johnstown in 1990 for a three-year run, raising the necessary funds to do so. The National Folk Festival brings “legendary masters and the next generation of dynamic young artists to celebrate the musical soul and cultural roots of America.” After the National Folk Festival’s three years were over, JAHA picked up the reigns and began to produce the event on its own, renaming the event the Johnstown FolkFest; AmeriServ Financial became the title sponsor a year later, and the AmeriServ Johnstown FolkFest came into being. JAHA’s music programming has continued the National Folk Festival’s mix of legends and cutting-edge newcomers representing all genres of American music. In 2009, to better convey that all types of music, not just folk, are presented, the name was changed to AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival. Past performers at the festival read like a “who’s who” in roots music, bringing arti
