Newport Folk Festival is held in Rhode Island.

Produced by George Wein and Albert Grossman, it is held in Newport. Joan Baez, a till-then little-known artist, emerges as its most talked-about performer. The festival is suspended after two years, but resumes as an annual event in 1963, run by the Newport Folk Festival Foundation. Bob Dylan first performs here in 1963, and first publicly performs electric music here in 1965. The festival continues until 1969, then is revived in a somewhat different form in 1985.