This weekend you can travel from the heart of Appalachia to China -- and many places in between -- without leaving Station Square. It's all at the Pittsburgh Folk Festival: The three-day event gets underway today at the Chevrolet Amphitheatre.

John Beale, Post-Gazette Members of the Nandanik Dance Academy of Mt. Lebanon, representing India, wait to perform on stage during last year's Pittsburgh Folk Festival. From left, Aarthi, Ramesh, 10, Teja Badami, 8, and Mahnvee Deo, 8. Click photo for larger image. 48th Annual Pittsburgh Folk Festival When: 4 to 11 p.m. today; noon to 11 p.m. Saturday; noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. Where: Chevrolet Amphitheatre, Station Square. Information: 412-278-1267. Tickets available at the gate, through Ticketmaster (412-323-1919) or at www.pghfolkfest.org. See a schedule of events.

The festival has moved around between various venues, including the former Syria Mosque, Mellon Arena, Heinz Field and Pittsburgh Expo Mart, but is settling back in at the Chevrolet Amphitheatre at Station Square as part of the summer-long festival scene there.

Now in its 48th year, the folk festival is one of the region's longest-running annual events, and the largest ethnic festival. In nearly half a century, it has exposed several generations to their own ethnic roots -- and to those of many other cultures.

The festival is starting to draw younger crowds, people who often aren't as steeped in their families' ethnic heritage as past generations were. The festival hosts visiting school groups, and some of those kids bring their own children back in later years.

This year, more than 30 different nationalities are represented. People tend to associate the festival with the variety of eastern European and European groups -- many of whom performed at the original festival 48 years ago. But it also celebrates the cultures of many others who have made the Pittsburgh area home -- from India, the Philippines and China.

"Our mission is to perpetuate these cultures and keep them alive," says Folk Festival director Tim Kuzma, who wears more than one hat at the festival: In the middle of a hectic three-day weekend, he makes time to perform with the Polish ensemble.

Many of the people who now work and perform at the festival are several generations removed from the countries their forefathers emigrated from. "We're moving further and further away," Kuzma says. "It makes it more of a challenge. It's important to keep that alive."

That involves balancing the festival's traditional elements -- performances, food booths and crafts exhibitions -- which have kept visitors coming back, with new features to attract people who might not otherwise circle the date in their calendars.

That's where the nontraditional acts, such as this year's national act the Jazz Mandolin Project come in. This year, the headliner musical acts represent a new generation's spin on traditional music. "In the bigger picture, it fits in. The key traditional elements are important. And they're still there," Kuzma says.

Other headliners include local favorites The Flow Band, who'll bring reggae and island sounds to the festival tonight.

One of the region's busiest country bands, The Povertyneck Hillbillies, closes out the festival on Sunday. The six-member band started out playing in bars in their home base in Fayette County. Now they perform at many of the area's regional festivals and other venues. Their 2003 release "Hillbilly State of Mind" was produced by Bob Corbin of Corbin-Hanner.

"We always like to provide variety, something that is going to attract a new audience. We want to create an atmosphere that is really vibrant and dynamic, an event that appeals to all kinds of people and that really speaks to the modern Western Pennsylvanian."

Patricia French is a well-known figure in the local folk performing community, president of the Bulgarian-Macedonian National Education & Cultural Center in West Homestead and a longtime folk festival participant.

"Our theme is unity in diversity," French says. "Right now, the way the world is, it's so unbelievably necessary. This is why it's so important that it continue."

Cultural stew

This year's festival is a true melting pot of traditional dance and music from several continents.

Bulgaria is well represented. Otets Paissi has performed at the festival since the beginning. This year, there will be traditional dances from different regions of Bulgaria, and a performance by the Balkan women's singing group Zvezda.

The Ukraine has also been represented at the folk festival since its early days. Interest in traditional dances have been handed down within the Ukrainian dance company Poltava from one generation to the next. "We have three brothers from one family and two from another. Their aunts and uncles performed," says founder Luba Hlutkowsky, whose son Roman is now director of the company.

There's plenty for fans of Irish music at this year's festival: The Wild Geese (Celtic), Bad Strad (Celtic rock) and Matthew Craig and Kerry Tipper with a selection of Irish songs.

Hawaiian dance is a relative newcomer to the festival. The group will perform a selection of traditional hula dances, ranging from an ancient dance in honor of the volcano goddess Pele to a comic hula and a more modern version of hula dating to the 1940s.

The Hawaiian hula is different from the hip-swiveling dances most associate with the form, says Lillian Ochoco-Cavanaugh of the Hawaiian dance group. "Hawaiian hula always tells a story. The dances were handed down from generation to generation."

From Germany, an ensemble of multigenerational dancers will perform traditional Bavarian dances.

Barto, a comic acrobat from Belgium, will perform daily at the festival.

John Beale, Post-Gazette Heather Hahn of Squirrel Hill, left, and Ashley Feather of North Side, right, prepare to perform at the 2003 Pittsburgh Folk Festival with the Polonia Song and Dance Ensemble in Lawrenceville Click photo for larger image.

Homegrown offerings include performances by bluegrass band Northwest Territory and dancing by the Coal Country Cloggers.

Another festival highlight, Kuzma says, is Sunday's "Around the World" program, during which all the groups perform brief excerpts from their programs. "We tell them to give us their best five minutes."

The folk festival still adheres to its own traditions, including presenting crafts and foods from different cultures along with the live performances.

This year, the festival has a partner in Sweetwater Center for the Arts, which is presenting a series of hands-on crafts demonstrations, including Carpatho-Rusyn bread ornamentation, Mexican yarn painting, African tile motifs, Chinese paper dragons, Irish lettering, Ukrainian etched eggs, German broom making, Bulgarian martinitzas, Hungarian palacsintas, or crepes, Polish paper cuttings and more.

And finally, there's the food. Festival-goers can sample a United Nations of ethnic delicacies prepared by local church groups and other organizations, often using their great-grandmothers' recipes.

48th Annual Pittsburgh Folk Festival

TODAY

4 p.m.: Festival opens

5 p.m.: Bad Strad (Celtic rock music), Amphitheatre stage

6 p.m.: The Barons (international music), Amphitheatre stage

7 p.m.: Barto, the Belgian comic acrobat, Amphitheatre stage; Lithuania performing ensemble, Beer Garden stage; Festival main performances (Germany Hawaii, Lithuania, Poland, Croatia), Amphitheatre stage

8 p.m.: The Barons (Oktoberfest in May celebration), Beer Garden stage

9 p.m.: The Flow Band, Amphitheatre stage; The Barons (folk dance party), Beer Garden stage

11 p.m.: Festival closes

SATURDAY

Noon: Festival opens; Festival Children's performance (Philippines, Slovakia, Lebanon, India, Greece, Bulgaria, China), Amphitheatre stage

2 p.m.: Barto, the Belgian comic acrobat, Amphitheatre stage; Philippines performing ensemble, Beer Garden stage

2:45 p.m.: Russian balalaika music and songs, Amphitheatre stage

3 p.m.: Tinikling workshop with the Philippines performing ensemble, Beer Garden stage; China performing ensemble, Beer Garden stage

4 p.m.: The Wild Geese (Celtic music), Amphitheatre stage; Bulgaria performing ensemble, Beer Garden stage

5 p.m.: Festival main performances (Ireland, Latin America, India, Philippines), Amphitheatre stage; Russian balalaika music, Beer Garden stage

6 p.m.: Barto, the Belgian comic acrobat, Amphitheatre stage; Zvezda (Balkan singing), Beer Garden stage

7 p.m.: Festival main performances (Lebanon, Ukraine, Greece, China, Bulgaria), Amphitheatre stage; India performing ensemble, Beer Garden stage; Slovakia performing ensemble, Beer Garden stage

8 p.m.: Festival musicians (folk dance party), Beer Garden stage

9 p.m.: Jazz Mandolin Project featuring Jamie Masefield and Jon Fishman, Amphitheatre stage; Bad Strad (Celtic rock music), Beer Garden stage

11 p.m.: Festival closes

SUNDAY

Noon: Festival opens; Barto, the Belgian comic acrobat, Amphitheatre stage

1 p.m.: Festival Children's performance (China, Ukraine, Philippines, Slovakia, Germany, Croatia, Carpatho-Rus), Amphitheatre stage; Northwest Territory (bluegrass music), Beer Garden stage

2 p.m.: Festival main performances (Scotland, Slovakia, China, Carpatho-Rus), Amphitheatre stage; Northwest Territory (bluegrass music), Beer Garden stage

3 p.m.: Barto, the Belgian comic acrobat, Amphitheatre stage; Coal Country Cloggers, Beer Garden stage

4 p.m.: Around the World (traveling through Hawaii, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Croatia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Poland, Carpatho-Rus, China, Philippines), Amphitheatre stage; Scotland Highland dancers, Beer Garden stage

5 p.m.: Scotland Country dancers, Beer Garden stage; Carpatho-Rusyn Choir, Beer Garden stage

6 p.m.: Povertyneck Hillbillies, Amphitheatre stage; Carpatho-Rus performing ensemble, Beer Garden stage

8 p.m.: Festival closes