Each summer, the world-renowned Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, mounts a huge, ten-day-long festival on the National Mall, showcasing the folk arts of selected US states, communities, occupational groups, foreign countries, and/or transnational regions. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival has run every year since 1967, organized as “an annual display of living cultural heritage” (Kurin 1997:111) that typically features musicians, dancers, ritual specialists, craftspeople, storytellers, food preparers, specialized workers, learning opportunities, and discussion sessions. The emphasis is very much on “grassroots” culture, and on “foreground[ing] the voices of tradition bearers as they demonstrate, discuss, and present their cultures” (ibid.: 113). The festival is simultaneously an opportunity for the chosen locales and communities to raise their profile on an international stage, and for hundreds of thousands of Americans and overseas tourists to learn about places and cultures they might never otherwise encounter. Entrance to all events is free of charge, and annual attendance averages over one million.