From today until Sunday, the town of Okemah will host hootenannies and hoe-downs.

The 13th annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival kicks off Wednesday in Okemah, a town of 3,000 that lies 70 miles east of Oklahoma City. The festival provides a venue for Woody Guthrie fans from across the world to celebrate the life and legacy of Okemah’s native son.

The festival features a wide variety of musical groups playing blues, folk, country, rock and more. “At Last, Okemah!” a film directed by Chicago filmmaker Michael G. Smith, will be screened during the festival. The comedy is about one man’s goal to get to Okemah for the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival.

Art director Rebecca Fernandez said the controversial Guthrie was an idealist most of all.

“Woody had a lot of ideals,” Fernandez said. “A lot of people thought he was communist because of his writing, but he had a lot of ideas about freedom, government and all kinds of things that are actually hot topics now. And a lot of his music still applies today.”

Media chairwoman Karen Zundel said many singers and songwriters consider Guthrie to be a pivotal figure. Artists are inspired by the spirit and legacy of Guthrie’s music, his vision for social justice and the way he spoke for those without a voice, she said.

Guthrie was a prolific writer, and there are thousands of lyrics in the Woody Guthrie Archives in Mt. Kisco, N.Y. An album called “Mermaid Avenue,” recorded by Billy Bragg in collaboration with the band Wilco, came about because of the vast wealth of lyrics in the archive, many without accompanying music.

Guthrie died in 1967 at age 55 of Huntington’s disease.

Zundel said organizers try to bring in new acts each year, although Okemah’s own John Fullbright, now 21, started playing the festival when he was 16.

“This year he went to the Folk Alliance Conference, and it’s been said that he’s kind of the buzz of the conference,” Zundel said.

Fullbright said he likes a quote by Joe Rafael: “Will Rogers is the most famous Oklahoman in America, but Woody Guthrie is the most famous Oklahoman in the world.”

Fullbright said he’s just now getting into Guthrie’s music, and his lyricism and writing influence his song craft more than Guthrie’s musicianship.

“If you went to Okemah 30 years ago and asked ‘Where’s Woody’s house?’ they’d look at you pretty funny,” Fullbright said. “He was always kind of considered ‘that communist bastard who took off and good riddance.’ But his fame spread throughout the world and the last place to find out about it was Okemah, Okla.”

Fullbright said people are more open-minded about Guthrie’s life and legacy today.

“I’m just now starting to figure out what he stood for, who he was and how he did it,” he said, “The genius of Woody was how he said what he said. He said it unlike anybody else. He had a clear message in his songs and he said it as profoundly and simply as he could.”

When he’s driving 16 hours to a gig through a desert, Fullbright said he often thinks about Guthrie’s life and travels. Fullbright said his first experience with the festival was playing it.

“If I could take anything out of what Woody Guthrie lived for or wrote for,” he said, “it would be that we can actually change something, but we have to do it together. We can’t take it on by ourselves. And we got to learn to do that now and Woody supplies the handbook.”

Fullbright said the festival is like a family reunion; people come back every year to play the festival. He said they do it out of the goodness of their hearts and from their love and respect for Woody Guthrie.

The festival also includes poetry readings, lectures on Guthrie, a guitar workshop a children’s festival with music, face painting and pony rides and an open-mic stage for aspiring musicians to play a few songs.

For more information, visit www.woodyguthrie.com.