The National Folk Festival is heading West for the first time in years this summer, and organizers hope attendance will hit six figures.

Fundraisers are working to raise $1.2 million to cover expenses for the festival, slated for Butte, Montana.

The festival drew record attendance of 175,000 in 2007 in Richmond, Virginia, where was held for the past three summers.

The three-day outdoor event will be in Butte for three summers starting July 11. It'll be the first time in 40 years that the national festival occurs on the western side of the Mississippi River.

The private, not-for-profit National Council for the Traditional Arts produces the event in cooperation with host communities.