FLOOD CITY MUSIC FESTIVAL

How long has the festival existed?

It’s a simple question with a complicated answer. The festival’s roots go all the way back to 1989, when the Johnstown Area Heritage Association (JAHA) worked with community groups to produce the 100-year commemoration of the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889. One of the most popular events of the year-long commemoration was a large street fair in the historic Cambria City neighborhood.

Based in part on the success of that event, JAHA, City and Commonwealth officials successfully raised the money to bring the National Folk Festival to Johnstown in 1990 for a three-year run. Again, the festival was held in Cambria City over Labor Day weekend. JAHA became the sole producer of the event, which was renamed the AmeriServ Johnstown FolkFest in 1994 when AmeriServ Financial became the event’s title sponsor.

As festival grew, so did challenges associated with holding the festival in a residential neighborhood. These included liability concerns, lack of parking, and development of empty lots needed to stage the festival. In 2004, JAHA moved the festival from Cambria City to a plot of land adjacent to downtown with the intent of developing it into a park.

In 2009, the festival was renamed the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival to better reflect the types of music offered, and the dates moved from Labor Day weekend. Since 2010 the festival has been held on or about the first weekend in August (except in 2021, when the pandemic pushed us to early October).

With the help of a $2 million grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a lead gift from Peoples Natural Gas, JAHA realized the goal of developing the Peoples Natural Gas Park in 2012. Today the park is the home of the festival and has served as a catalyst for additional special events.