National Folk Festival chooses Bangor as 3-year host

BANGOR – The nation’s oldest multicultural arts celebration is coming to Bangor, a development organizers say will be both a cultural and economic boon to the region.

During a news conference Wednesday at City Hall, an assortment of local, regional, state and national officials assembled to celebrate the news that Bangor has been selected as host for the 64th, 65th and 66th editions of the National Folk Festival to be held in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Bangor’s selection was the result of a joint effort that began last fall and involved representatives from the city, the Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau, Eastern Maine Development Corp., and the region’s arts and business communities.

According to BCVB board Chairman Robert Brown, attracting the festival to the Bangor area was one of the organization’s major objectives. That it has been accomplished, he said, is a reflection of Bangor’s history of leadership in the region.

Organizers estimate that the festival will draw more than 60,000 people each year to the Bangor area from around Maine, New England and the Maritime Provinces. While hosting the event will require an estimated investment of $500,000 from Maine and $500,000 from the national level, it is expected to generate several times that total in revenue.

BCVB Executive Director Donna Fichtner on Wednesday projected the festival’s economic impact at $12 million to $15 million a year, a figure reflecting both day-trippers and those who will lodge in the region encompassing an area extending from Bar Harbor to Greenville to Millinocket.

The festival also will require a human investment.

“We are going to need over 400 volunteers during the course of the weekend for the event to run smoothly,” Fichtner said. She encouraged those interested to contact the BCVB at 947-5205 or toll-free at (800) 91 MOOSE.

According to Bangor Mayor John Rohman, the three-day festival will be set mainly in Bangor’s downtown and on its waterfront, though the adjacent community of Brewer could be involved.

First presented in 1934 in St. Louis, the National Folk Festival is a large-scale, outdoor festival presented in its selected host community for three years. Musicians and craftspeople from every state in the union and most U.S. territories have participated.

The traveling showcase is a presentation of the National Council for the Traditional Arts in cooperation with coalitions of local organizations. Events, which are family-oriented and free to the public, are aimed at celebrating the richness and diversity of American culture.

The festival will be coming to Bangor from East Lansing, Mich., where it pumped an estimated $6 million into the local economy in its first year alone, according to a report published in the Lansing State Journal. The festival also has been held in such cities as Dayton, Ohio, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Johnstown, Pa., according to Julia Olin, associate director of the arts council.

The three-year tenure is intended to lay the groundwork for continuation of locally produced, high-quality arts festivals after the national team moves on to another city. Lowell, Mass., which served as host from 1987 through 1989, is gearing up for its 15th annual festival this summer. Audiences have grown to more than 200,000 a year.

The festival will require up to seven stage locations, ideally within walking distance of each other. One of the venues is expected to be the new outdoor amphitheater to be built on the city’s waterfront this year, organizers said Wednesday.

Bangor was among a dozen locations around the nation considered as potential sites for the festival’s next three-year stint, according to NCTA Executive Director Joe Wilson, who was in Bangor for Wednesday’s announcement. Other locales that vied for the honor of hosting the festival included Milwaukee, Wis., and Vancouver, Wash., he said.

“This was by far the best offer that we got,” Wilson said. He said four factors figured into the NCTA board’s decision to bring the national festival to Bangor:

“First, the Bangor team was the best-organized group that was interviewed. Second, the Bangor partners plan broad involvement for the region and state in the festival. Third, Bangor has a remarkable civic history, one of accomplishing what it sets out to do. Fourth, Bangor is a gorgeous city, one of the most livable places in the nation, and it has many excellent sites that can be adapted to the presentation of a large-scale festival. It is a nearly perfect place for the National Folk Festival.”

Past audiences have been treated to blues, rockabilly, gospel, jazz, bluegrass, cowboy, polka, old-time, mariachi, Western swing, honky-tonk, rhythm and blues, and zydeco music as well as traditional music and dance from the Cajun, American Indian, Celtic, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, East Asian, Appalachian, Hispanic, African and Pacific Island cultures.

Exhibits and demonstrations typically feature the finest craftspeople in traditions ranging from pottery, quilting and needlework to instrument making and woodcarving, as well as ethnic and regional food specialties, storytelling, and children’s activities designed to teach and entertain at the same time.