BANGOR – After holding the reins for four months, Robert Libbey will resign Friday from the position of Bangor director of the National Folk Festival. The festival, which has the potential to draw more than 75,000 visitors annually, will take place in Bangor for three days starting next August for three years.

Libbey, who has made strides in developing a Web site and in fund raising for the festival featuring American traditional folk arts and music, will return next week to his former job as executive director of the Maine Performing Arts Network, an advocacy organization that connects performing artists and presenters in Maine and across state lines.

“We were delighted that Bob was willing to help us lay the groundwork for the festival,” said Donna Fichtner, executive director at the Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau, one of the major funding partners for the festival.

According to Libbey, an actor and former TV producer, the director’s position was not the right fit for his skills.

“The festival is a great event, but it wasn’t the right place for me,” said Libbey, who also has a graduate degree in business. “I missed the creativity and statewide influence at the Maine Performing Arts Network.”

Libbey left MPAN last summer to take the festival position, and the search committee still was in the process of replacing him this month when he asked for his old job back.

“It’s great for us,” said David Greenham, a board member and past president at MPAN, as well as producing director at The Theater at Monmouth. “Bob is a really dynamic leader. He knows Maine and has brought a great new energy to us in terms of computer literacy and visionary leadership.”

Libbey will keep his position as chairman of the National Folk Festival performing arts committee, which will assist in choosing the 20 or so performing acts booked for the three-day event.

Organizers for the National Folk Festival are discussing the best way to fill Libbey’s position. Whether another appointment will be made or the responsibilities will be reallocated to current workers still is being decided. In the meantime, the daily duties are being absorbed by Fichtner and several staff members at the Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“We have learned a lot in this process,” said Fichtner, who drafted the proposal that beat out the bids of several other cities to host the festival. “Initially, we were thinking the job required the creativity of a performing artist with technical skills. What we know now is that the job involves an overwhelming amount of minutiae and organization. While we are deciding how to fill the gap, the CVB will not let anything fall through the cracks and will continue to be the glue that holds it together.”

The National Council for the Traditional Arts, based in Washington, D.C., created the festival in the 1930s. In recent years, the event has taken up the three-year residencies in cities throughout the United States.