The N.C. Folk Festival returned to downtown Greensboro Sept. 6-8, bringing dozens of diverse food vendors and food trucks, a marketplace of hand-crafted goods, storytelling and other family-friendly activities and of course, music.  A wide array of music, covering everything from “Dominican Blues,” better known as bachata, to “Sacred Steel,” a genre that comes out of a small group of African American Pentecostal-Holiness churches.

The Grandfather Mountain Highlanders Pipe Band, pictured above, performed at the Folk Festival on Sept. 8.  Formed in 1974, this band featuring bagpipes, bass drums and snare drums is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year.  The group is known for developing younger players and has performed in competitions across the Southeast, in Canada and in Scotland.