Fresno’s Courthouse Park will host the Great Valley Gathering Oct. 2-4. The free, three-day festival will celebrate the cultural traditions of California’s Central Valley. Photo by Gabriel Dillard

Fresno will host a new three-day festival celebrating the cultural traditions of California’s Central Valley as part of a national Smithsonian initiative marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The Great Valley Gathering, presented by the Alliance for California Traditional Arts in collaboration with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, will take place Oct. 2-4 at Courthouse Park.

The free festival will feature traditional music and dance, food, crafts, Native cultural practices, community conversations and other forms of cultural expression from throughout the Central Valley.

Fresno was selected as one of approximately 40 gatherings nationwide participating in the Smithsonian’s “Of the People” initiative, which uses festivals and other events to promote civic engagement and cultural exchange.

“The Great Valley Gathering is a festival of the people, by the people, and for the people of the Central Valley,” said Amy Kitchener, ACTA executive director and festival director.

The festival opens at 4 p.m. Oct. 2 with food and performances, followed by an opening ceremony and evening concert featuring regional Mexican music.

Saturday programming will run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. across four stages and other areas, including a Great Valley Cypher featuring Fresno hip-hop artist Fashawn. Sunday programming will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Featured performers include Indigenous Mixtec chilena band Los Hijos de San Juan, Armenian musician Richard Hagopian and Laotian ensemble Sieng-Khaen-Lao.

Other activities will highlight Native traditions, Hmong textiles, lowrider art, cowboy bootmaking and Central Valley foodways.

The event is free and open to the public.