I try to go every year. It is always so excellent. This year the featured country is Hungary. I had to go back a second time to bring my husband, it was so good this year. This link will take you to the official site for this year.
I want to share some photos I took and a couple short videos, if you can't come see it yourself. But, if you live near Washington ... it runs through July 7th, come on down!
My favorite performance were the finalists of the "Peacock Talent Show", an Hungarian TV show. All the contestants must be between 18 and 35 and they can only perform absolutely authentic Hungary music and dance.
When I saw the show a second time I asked one of the women what was under their skirts. I thought it might be some kind of stuffed bum roll because there was so much padding around the hips. She lifted her skirt and let me feel her petticoat. She had two petticoats that were as stiff as cardboard. Each petticoat was made with a cotton print on the inside and outside with something like buckram sanwiched between. The hem was scalloped with a blanket stitch worked over a raw cut edge. I wish I could have seen how it was attached to the waist, but it must have been cartridge pleats. Nothing else would have worked. That would explain the incredible thickness just below the waist. She also told me that some women wear up to 5 or 6 of these petticoats ... WOW.

The young man below wore this beautiful coat for his dance that featured the twirling of two long staffs.
To give you feeling of being at the festival, I didn't crop the photo so you can see the empty food containers on the grass!
I wonder what they will do next year?