BANGOR – In anticipation of the National Folk Festival, Aug. 23-25, Bangor Public Library has planned folk-related children’s activities in the coming week.

S.C. Francis, a Penobscot Indian craftsman who operates a gift shop on Indian Island, will talk about Wabanaki Indian arts at 10 a.m. today.

Polly Karris will have children on their feet and dancing when she teaches the steps of traditional Greek dance at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 2.

Juggler Zachary Field will read aloud at 10 a.m. Aug.5.

Tracey Hair, a native of Australia, will share her love on her homeland, using music, snacks and artifacts, at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6.

Storyteller Gussie Vaughan will spin tales of wit and humor at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 8. Vaughan’s presentation marks the finale of Bangor Public Library’s Folk Festival Fun summer reading program.

The many performers, all of which may be seen free, will include BeauSoleil, Nathan and the Zydeco ChaChas, the Holmes Brothers, Upland South and Heartland Fiddlers, and a parade band from New Orleans.

Susan Pierce and the National Folk Festival committee are hard at work putting the finishing touches on the first event of its kind to be held along Bangor’s waterfront Aug. 23-25.

“This event is so exciting it’s a real pleasure to be working on it,” said Pierce, who serves as Bangor’s Folk Festival Director. “We expect about 75,000 people will attend the three-day event and we will feature five stages, including one venue that will be able to seat up to 16,000 spectators.”

Quilters, woodworkers and knitters will be among the participants, organizers said recently. Also taking part will be demonstrators of rug making, and crafters of lobster traps, pack-baskets and snowshoes.

The oldest multicultural event in the nation, the National Folk Festival was first presented in St. Louis in 1934. Championed in the early years by Eleanor Roosevelt, it was the first event of national stature to present the arts of many nations, races and languages on equal footing. Today, the National is an exuberant traveling festival that showcases the nation’s finest traditional musicians, dancers and craftspeople.

Nothing like the National Folk Festival has ever taken place in Bangor, Pierce said.

“The city had to compete against several other communities hoping to showcase their area,” she said, “and the national committee selected Bangor to host the event for the next three years,” she said.

The festival, which was held for the past three years in East Lansing, Mich., features the traditional arts and diverse culture of America.

This year the festival will focus on Maine’s regional traditions including its lumbering and fishing industries. Demonstrations will include canoe and boat building, casting, fly-tying, snowshoe making and domestic arts such as quilting, spinning, weaving and pottery making.

“We are also planning unusual demonstrations on such things as Native American club root carving, cedar fan carving and basket making,” Pierce said. “In addition, there will be sales of fabric arts and jewelry.”

Pierce said an emphasis was also being placed on the ethnic traditions of food and will include everything from bean-hole beans to Franco-American ployes, and another draw will be the separate children’s area that will include storytelling, crafts and traditional games.

Entertainment will include the sounds of blues guitars, bluegrass harmonies, Cajun, Zydeco and Quebecois bands, Celtic fiddles, Appalachian pickers, Vera Cruz jarocho, African-American gospel, polka, western swing, hot Caribbean rhythms and more.

“The most impressive thing about the festival is that there is no entrance fee and all the entertainment is free,” Pierce said. “Of course, there will be a charge for any foods or beverages purchased by participants. It is our intention to make the entire festival one of the best family events of the year.”

For information on the National Folk Festival, contact Susan Pierce, Bangor Convention & Visitors Bureau at 947-5207. You may also visit www.nationalfolkfestival.com.