Gardner Winter Music Festival

Join us on February 27th and 28th, 2026.

It all started one cold, snowy winter in 1978 ... Shake off those winter blues and come to play or just listen at South Middle School in Morgantown, West Virginia. This festival showcases traditional Appalachian music with continuous on-stage performances, workshops, informal jam sessions, and socializing. GWMF gives traditional Appalachian music lovers a place to play, listen, dance, and learn in the cold dark of winter.

Vendors please contact us if you would like to have a table at the festival. Items for sale must be music related.
Purchases at the festival are cash only, and there is no ATM on site.

New this year

A new activity being added this year is an instrument exchange. For more information please see this page.

History of the Gardner Winter Music Festival

Worley Gardner started this festival in 1978 and his late wife Margaret continued it after his passing. A group of traditional-music-loving volunteers keeps it going today.
Festival sponsors include PattyFest, Inc. and South Middle School.

35th Anniversary Memory Booklet

To mark the 35th anniversary of GWMF in 2013, Jeff Fedan created a special "memory booklet" where festival participants have shared special photos, thoughts, and memories of their GWMF weekends. A pdf (2.8 MB) of the booklet is here.

Dulcimer Pamphlet

Revival of the Hammered Dulcimer by the Gardner Brothers (Worley and Asel Gardner) is a pamphlet briefly describing the history, tuning, and playing of the hammered dulcimer. A pdf is here.