The Brooklyn Folk Festival is back at St. Ann's Church on Montague Street for three days, Friday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 8, with more than 40 bands, workshops, square dances, film screenings and its banjo-throwing contest. On Saturday night the festival also marks a birthday for the organization behind it: Jalopy Theatre and School of Music, the Red Hook music venue and school, is celebrating its 20th anniversary on the main stage.

Who puts it on

Jalopy is a nonprofit that runs a performance space, a music school, a record store and a record label out of Red Hook. It started the Brooklyn Folk Festival in 2009, and the festival now fills St. Ann's Church, at 157 Montague Street between Clinton and Henry streets, with three stages running at once: the main stage in the sanctuary, the Parish Hall, and a smaller coffeehouse stage in the workshop room.

Friday, Nov. 6

Music starts at 7 p.m. The main stage runs from Feral Foster through the Balinese gamelan group Gamelan Yowana Sari, the artist and musician Lonnie Holley at 8:40 p.m., Mama's Broke and The Deslondes at 10:20 p.m. The Parish Hall has a square dance with The Bodega Buddies at 7:50 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 7

The day program starts at noon. Highlights on the published schedule include the music writer Elijah Wald at 1:40 p.m., a tribute to the blues guitarist Steve James with Ana Egge and friends at 2:30 p.m., and Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves at 4:20 p.m. The workshop room screens a short film by Lonnie Holley and Cyrus Moussavi with a question-and-answer session, hosts a talk on 50 years of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and shows a documentary on the band the Fugs with its director. The Parish Hall opens at noon with a family music session led by Suzi Shelton.

The evening program starts at 7:15 p.m. with Jalopy's 20th anniversary celebration, followed by fiddler Bruce Molsky with banjo player Tony Trischka and guitarist Michael Daves at 7:50 p.m., then Agalisiga Chuj Mackey, Louis Cato and the Mohamed Araki Band.

Sunday, Nov. 8

Sunday opens at 1 p.m. with the Banjo Toss, the festival's contest for throwing a banjo as far as possible. The afternoon includes a fiddle workshop with Justin Robinson and a second square dance in the Parish Hall at 4:30 p.m., and the evening closes with Bonnie Prince Billy at 8:30 p.m.

Afterparties and a coat drive

Each night continues at an afterparty at Jalopy Tavern, 317 Columbia Street in Red Hook. All weekend, the Parish Hall collects coats and warm clothing for migrant communities in the city and Red Hook residents who need them, so bring a coat you no longer wear. The festival also takes volunteers, who get in free.

Tickets and getting there

Tickets are sold through the festival's website, which also has the full schedule for all three stages. St. Ann's Church is at 157 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. Take the R to Court Street or the 2, 3, 4 or 5 to Borough Hall, both a short walk away.

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