There are only so many places where you can find African drumming, Irish dancing, Macedonian singing, Indian cooking and Chinese yo-yoing all in one neighborhood. But that’s just a small smattering of the diverse workshops and demonstrations that will be featured at the 10th annual Newmarket Heritage Festival this weekend.

New additions to this year’s festival include the Chinese Folk Art Workshop, a nonprofit youth organization based in Boston, which will perform a traditional dragon dance, beat giant lion drums and execute a spinning diabalo demonstration. Music and dance ensemble Inca Son will bring Peruvian folklore to the stage with ancient songs and dances of the Andes. And the Akwaaba Drum and Dance Ensemble will hold a West African drum workshop, inviting guests to try their hands at African drumming.

The weekend-long festival also features popular events from years past, including a multi-ethnic singing performance by Voices From the Heart, traditional music from “accordion warrior” Gary Sredzienski, and harmonies from the 60-piece Granite Statesmen barbershop chorus.

“As every year, it’s a mix of old and new—old favorites and wonderful new things,” said festival coordinator Suki Casanave. “It gets harder and harder every year, because people love these performances and these acts so much that it gets hard to make room for new things.”

Although Newmarket might not immediately pop to mind as a culturally diverse Mecca, the old mill town’s rich history makes it an appropriate site for a festival with acts from around the globe. “We like to describe it as a little international block party,” Casanave said.

Over the years, laborers came from far and wide to work at the town’s former textile mills, bringing in Laotian, Polish, French Canadian, German, Irish and Eastern European heritage. “The mills brought a wonderful diversity to the Seacoast, both in Newmarket and beyond,” Casanave said. “The immigrants came in waves, and these roots are evident throughout the Seacoast.”

The Heritage Festival places considerable emphasis on local history. Rich Alperin, of the Newmarket Historical Society, will guide a tour of the Cheswell Burying Ground, honoring Wentworth Cheswell, one of the town’s founding fathers, who had African American ancestry. There will also be historical tours of the downtown village and the mill buildings.

Casanave said last year’s historical tours drew surprisingly large crowds. She sees the festival as an opportunity to celebrate the town’s cultural development and diversity. “As time has gone on, our sense of diversity has only increased,” she said. “It’s becoming more and more of a rich mix as time goes on, and this is a way to acknowledge that.”

Attracting international acts to Newmarket is as simple as giving them a call and explaining the event, Casanave said. As she courted various performers, she told them that the festival’s mission is to entertain people while providing them with an enriching learning experience. “They all love the opportunity to share their heritage and their traditions,” she said. “This is something that these performers are proud of, and I think people in the audience love learning about other cultures and love the sense of broadening their horizons.”

Another goal of the festival is to support local charities and causes. A number of festival meals will serve as fundraisers for various organizations. The Community Church will accept donations during its harvest dinner on Sunday night, and a brunch that morning will benefit the Extreme Air jump rope team. A breakfast on Saturday morning will benefit Newmarket’s School to Career Partnership, and the Best Desert of the Seacoast bake-off that night benefits Project Graduation. “The festival takes none of the proceeds (of these events). They all go directly to each of these groups,” Casanave said.

This year’s festival also includes a number of new outdoor events on the Lamprey River waterfront. Travelin’ Barnyard will hold a live animal agricultural exhibit on Saturday, and Eastern Mountain Sports will provide kayaking and rowing on Sunday. There will also be a climbing wall on the waterfront, and visitors will be able to board a Coast Guard vessel and speak with the crew.

The festival officially begins at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 21. Following the annual soup and chowder fest and opening ceremonies, The Funky Divas of Gospel will kick things off with a performance of soulful roots music in the main tent. Boston-based oldies rock band The Reminisants will keep things rolling with a dance party on Saturday night. The main festivities come to a close on Sunday evening with the Community Church Harvest Supper.

The Stone Church Music Club will host music throughout the weekend, highlighted by the Say ZuZu reunion show on Saturday afternoon. The outdoor concert will also feature music from Elsa Cross, Tim McCoy and the Papercuts, and Roy Davis. Say ZuZu formed in Newmarket in 1992 under the leadership of area natives Jon and James Nolan and Cliff Murphy. The band toured internationally and released several albums and live recordings before calling it quits in 2002. The Serfs will play an indoor show at The Stone Church on Friday night, followed by the Nate Wilson Group on Saturday night and Tab Benoit on Sunday night.

Organizers expect somewhere around 4,000 visitors to hit the festival over the course of the weekend, topping last year’s record attendance. The festival has a budget of more than $30,000 this year, but programming costs alone have eaten up nearly $20,000, Casanave said. The admission price is $5 for the entire weekend, and children under the age of 12 get in for free. (Music at The Stone Church is priced separately.)

According to Casanave, almost every business in Newmarket is involved in the festival in some capacity, many setting up vending booths throughout the weekend, and numerous artisans will share the secrets of their crafts. Businesses and individuals are invited to make donations. Major sponsors of this year’s festival include the N.H. State Council on the Arts, the N.H. Charitable Foundation, the town of Newmarket and Liberty Mutual.

For a complete schedule of festival events, visit www.heritage-festival.org.