The cultural event International Folklore Festival Veles was first held in 2004. This year the folklore festival was held for the 20th time.
The goal of the folklore festival is to promote the tradition and folklore of the Macedonian people in Europe and the World, as well as to familiarize our citizens with the culture and traditions of the peoples of the countries from which the folklore ensembles performing at the festival come.
The International Folklore Festival is a cultural event of the Municipality of Veles for which the financial resources are determined by the Council of the Municipality of Veles in the culture program, the festival continuously receives financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia and a large number of friends of folklore and businessmen from Veles and beyond.
In the past 20 years, the folklore festival has been held in four or five festival evenings, depending on financial resources, at the end of June or the beginning of July, depending on weather conditions, on the Summer Stage of the Amphitheater in the Youth Park in Veles.
In these 20 years, a total of 151 folklore ensembles from 28 countries around the world have performed at the IFF Veles. The folklore ensembles that have performed at the festival come from 5 continents: Europe, Asia, Australia, America and Africa.
Participants: Serbia-20, Romania-14, Bulgaria-16, Serbia and Montenegro-1, Slovenia-5, Greece-2, Bosnia and Herzegovina-7, Turkey-16, Italy-3, Croatia-9, Russia-6, Mexico-5, Montenegro-6, Poland-9, Hungary-3, Costa Rica-1, Lithuania-2, Slovakia-7, Israel-1, Australia-2, Netherlands-1, Estonia-3, Ukraine-4, Northern Cyprus-1, Chile-1, Germany-1, Czech Republic-1 and Republika Srpska - 1.
The number of folklore ensembles from Macedonia that performed at the festival is large. 34 ensembles from the country have performed at the festival:
The Folk Song and Dance Ensemble "Tanec" performed 6 times, the Ensemble "Macedonia" performed 2 times.
Vocal and instrumental ensembles also performed: Ajdaret, Zora, Rudina and
Maestro Milan Zafkov with the group Maestro and especially the group Maestro.
From Veles performed: Ensemble Keramičar, KUD Kole Nedelkovski, FA Vila Zora, KUD Birlik, KUD Sehara, Raspeani Veleshani, Raspeani penzioneri, Veleska čalgija, OTI Gtefan Gajdov and others.
The summer stage of the Amphitheater in the youth park in Veles is packed with an audience every night during the folklore festival, and every night the performances are watched by 3,000 to 4,000 spectators from Veles and the country.