More Than 4,000 Gather For Middlesex County’s Third Annual FolkLIVE Gospel Music Festival

For Tangie Cobb, the thousands of people gathered in Monument Square Park represented what she calls “joy in the streets.”

“There was joy everywhere, smiles everywhere,” Cobb said. “Black people, white people, Indian people, Asian people, everybody was in the streets with joy on their faces.”

Cobb has performed at Middlesex County’s FolkLIVE Gospel Music Festival since its debut in 2024, opening the event each year with the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” This year, she watched the festival draw its largest crowd yet.

The free festival returned July 25 for its third year, bringing more than 4,000 guests to downtown New Brunswick for an afternoon of gospel music led by Grammy Award-winning artists Erica Campbell and Jonathan McReynolds. The Newark-based gospel group, The Group Fire, joined local performers Cobb, Valarie Adams, Bishop George C. Searight & Royal Priesthood and Myles Cherrette. DJ RunTheFade also performed, while Toya Beasley of 94.7 The Block and nationally recognized arts administrator Deonté Griffin-Quick co-hosted the event.

A Growing FolkLIVE Tradition

The Gospel Music Festival is one of four events in Middlesex County’s 2026 FolkLIVE series. Led by the Arts Institute of Middlesex County, FolkLIVE brings cultural traditions, music, dance, and storytelling to communities across the county as part of an effort to make arts and cultural programming more accessible. The series is carried out in partnership with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, with support from the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners.

The series opened June 20 and 21 with the Raritan Native American Heritage PowWow and Celebration at the Middlesex County Fairgrounds.

This year’s attendance continued a pattern of growth. Lindsay Erben, director of the Arts Institute of Middlesex County, said that attendance has nearly doubled each year. Since the festival is outdoors, free and unticketed, the county does not have an exact count, she said.

Cobb said she could see the difference.

“This is the biggest audience I’ve ever seen, and it grew each year,” she said.

Cobb’s involvement with the Gospel Music Festival began after Middlesex County Commissioner Chanelle Scott McCullum heard her sing at an event in East Brunswick, where Cobb had stepped in for a singer who was unable to attend. Cobb said Scott McCullum later told her about her vision for a gospel festival and asked her to be part of it.

“She said, ‘I want you to open up every year with ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’” Cobb recalled.

“When I sing it, it’s not just me singing a song; it’s me ministering,” Cobb said. “That song, the lyrics of that song, ministers to me as an individual.”

‘More Than Just Music’

County Commissioner McCullum described the festival as an event “dear to my heart” and a reflection of Middlesex County’s diversity.

“The Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners invests in culture to not only better the lives of our residents but also to bolster the local economy,” County Commissioner McCullum said in a statement. “Events like this just don’t happen; they are the result of months of planning, collaboration, and our team’s commitment.”

Along with live performances, the festival featured food and beverage vendors including Progressive Catering, Jamaican Taste, Jamaican Patty Wagon, NiCa Soul, Costa Chica, Ropers Way Farm, and Crazy Corn.

Kayson Woolford, social media coordinator for the Arts Institute of Middlesex County, has worked on the festival since its inaugural year. He said he has watched both the audience and enthusiasm surrounding it increase.

“Every year the audience gets larger, the excitement continues to build, and more people discover what makes this event so special,” Woolford said.

For Griffin-Quick, who attended the first two festivals before co-hosting for the first time this year, the free admission is an important part of that accessibility.

“We know that affordability of tickets for concerts is sometimes inaccessible for people,” Griffin-Quick said. “But the mere fact that they created a free event for the community and surrounding area to attend was really impactful.”

He also emphasized the importance of giving local artists a platform. “There is a lot of great gospel talent in NJ,” he said, adding that artists in the state can sometimes be overlooked because of the state’s proximity to New York City.

Worth the Trip

The festival’s reach extended beyond Middlesex County.

Ramona Smith traveled about three hours from Long Island, New York, for her second year at the FolkLIVE Gospel Music Festival. Smith, who has family in NJ, said her experience the previous year left a strong enough impression that she wanted to return.

“It wasn’t just another gospel concert. It felt like a community coming together in faith, joy, and love,” Smith said. “The atmosphere, the music, and the genuine sense of fellowship made it worth the trip.”

Smith attended this year as a VIP guest of Campbell, whom she described as a friend, but said she would have returned regardless.

From the stage, Griffin-Quick said he saw people dancing, celebrating, and building with one another.

“When given the right resources, when given the right platform,” Griffin-Quick said, the festival demonstrates “the impact that gospel has on people.”

Cobb hopes that impact continues as the festival grows.

“We really want to be together,” she said. “We want to coexist. We want to get to know our neighbors.”

FolkLIVE Continues

Those who missed the Gospel Music Festival can watch the livestream on YouTube.

The 2026 FolkLIVE series continues Aug. 29 with the NJ Folk Festival 51st Anniversary at Davidson Mill Pond Park, followed by the Mexican Folkloric Festival on Sept. 12 at Monument Square Park.