GREENSBORO, N.C. — The North Carolina Folk Fest returns to downtown Greensboro this weekend after going virtual last year due to the pandemic.

What You Need To Know

Justin Harrington will be performing live after doing so virtually last year

Organizers highly encourage everyone get vaccinated and wear masks

The festival ends at 6 p.m. Sunday

Crews spent all week setting up stages, tents and closing down streets in preparation for the weekend-long event.

In 2019, 156,000 people attended the free festival, and this year organizers are hoping for the same turnout, but with COVID-19 safeguards in place. The festival will have hand sanitization stations placed throughout the event, and organizers highly recommend people wear masks and get vaccinated.

Artists like Justin Harrington, who goes by his stage name Demeanor, are especially excited to be performing live this year. Harrington performed last year virtually.

"I’m big on energy like when I do shows. Honestly, I don’t even really prepare, I just have all of the records that I know that I can do it, because I’m controlling everything. You know, it’s really easy for me to do that way anyway. I can just read off the crowd, so if I do a song, and I can see that you know this song wasn’t really vibe, and now I can switch gears to make sure that everybody’s having a good time. I like to be able to look people in the eyes and get that real time feedback," Harrington said.

The festival is all weekend, with the event ending at 6 p.m. Sunday. You can also catch Demeanor's performance at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday.

For more information you can visit here.