FolkFeast National festival to bring smorgasbord of traditional arts to Bangor

When Cherish the Ladies performed this winter at Norumbega Hall in Bangor, the members of the group delivered more than the traditional Irish jigs and contemporary folk tunes that have made them award-winning recording artists over the last 15 years. The Irish-American musicians also had something to say about the National Folk Festival.

The message went something like this: You are very lucky to have the National in Bangor, so please support it.

Staging the concert in the historic Chateau Ballroom was emblematic of the festival’s mission to preserve, appreciate and disseminate folk arts – and to do so in a downtown setting where culture can thrive as a community connector and enhancer.

“One of my dreams has been to bring the National Folk Festival to Maine,” said Joe Wilson, director of the National Council for the Traditional Arts in Washington, D.C. “When we come here, we will bring little bits of Louisiana, something from down in Texas, some honky-tonk, and American Indian music. It will be a panoply of things that are American. We think truth and beauty are spread all over this country. And we think it’s important to dig them up and bring them to one place.”

First presented in 1934 in St. Louis, the National is the oldest multicultural event in the nation. It did a long stint at Wolftrap Farm Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia before adopting a “movable feast” approach. Since the early 1980s, it has traveled to Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio, New York City, Lowell, Mass., Johnstown, Pa., Chattanooga, Tenn., Dayton, Ohio, and East Lansing, Mich. Along the way, the festival has launched the careers of many folk artists, including the dancer Michael Flatley and the Cajun group BeauSoleil.

In its last home, East Lansing, the National pumped $1 million a day into the local economy, according to officials there. A spinoff festival, The Great Lakes Folk Festival, took place earlier this month. In Lowell, where the National was held more than a decade ago, a thriving annual festival with more than 200,000 participants is often cited as a model of cultural and economic revitalization for cities.

John Rohman, chairman of the festival in Bangor, attended the National when it was in East Lansing and has also been to the Lowell Folk Festival. He was part of the team that wrote the proposal to have the festival in Bangor, which competed against 10 other municipalities around the country, including Vancouver, Wash., Macon, Ga., Denver, and Milwaukee. But the Queen City won the prize as host for the 64th, 65th and 66th National Folk Festival.

When Rohman learned of Bangor’s triumph, he uttered two telling words, “Pinch me.”

That the National Folk Festival is coming to Bangor for 2002, 2003 and 2004 is no dream. It is, however, a dream come true for city planners. In the last five years, downtown Bangor has undergone noticeable changes despite a small population base of about 32,000 – a number that has remained relatively stable for more than 30 years.

The Maine Shakespeare Festival, now in its ninth year on the Bangor waterfront, the Maine Discovery Museum, a spate of new shops in the heart of the city and a restoration of historical statues have all given Bangor a face-lift.

But the city remains more of a gateway to other tourist attractions than a destination spot. The festival, say organizers, is an attempt at changing that.

“Bangor is a community that suffers from a lack of identity,” said Donna Fichtner, executive director of the Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau, which, with the city of Bangor, NCTA and Eastern Maine Development Corp., is producing the festival. “Our cultural heritage and the arts, that’s what can revitalize our city. Bangor is the center of our regional culture and, for years, the mayors have wanted a defining event. My feeling is that this festival is that event.”

The biggest challenge for Bangor, one of the smallest cities to host the National, was raising the $1.8 million required to run the festival over three years. The city of Bangor has pledged $150,000 over the same time period and, as of early August, $1,329,000 had been raised from corporate and private donations.

“As of July, we were at about 95 percent of our fund-raising goal for the first year of the festival in Bangor,” said Susan Pierce, local director of the National. “This is especially gratifying as Bangor is the first host city to raise the majority of their funds from the private sector.”

The smaller challenges – organizing a 750-person volunteer corps, readying the waterfront to accommodate a projected 60,000-70,000 visitors, collecting regional crafts and helping to choose performers – has made hosting the National one of the biggest community-based events to take place in Bangor in recent history.

“Bangor has a real ability to come together to do big things,” said Robert Libbey, a member of the programming committee. “Once people find out just how exciting this is, they’ll pull together. It’s challenging, but the rewards are immeasurable and all the other communities that have done this confirm that. I think this will transform Bangor.”

One of the clear outcomes of the festival is that it motivates people to become joiners in their neighborhood. For the Maine event, Sen. Susan Collins and Maine humorist Tim Sample quickly jumped on board as honorary co-chairs. Lynda Rohman, director of volunteer services at Eastern Maine Medical Center, is co-chair of the committee of local volunteers whose multifarious jobs include transporting artists, giving out information and running a “Bucket Brigade” for which they cheerfully walk through the crowds collecting cash donations from participants.

The point is, said Libbey, it “takes an entire community to pull this off.” And the folk arts, he added, have the power to bring out the best and most generous in people.

Joe Wilson, who received a National Heritage Award in 2001, has a similar vision of the folk arts and sees Bangor as a perfect setting for exploring the role of global traditions.

“We think it’s a good place to do a festival because the state has a good sensibility about its folk arts,” said Wilson. “We think the kinds of things we bring to a festival will be good for the city. Great things come to Maine all the time, but we think we can put a slightly different twist on the whole thing. The festival we create in Bangor will be different from any other festivals we’ve ever done. And we’re having more fun than a pig in a puddle.”

A very big puddle, say organizers who have working during the last year to assure excellence in programming, ethnic food, material culture, volunteers and fund-raising.

“East Lansing demonstrated that if an entire community works together, it can be a transforming event for that community,” said Libbey. “Bangor has a long history of arts and culture. And that’s the key. The days when lumber was king are long gone, but with this festival we can recapture that vitality.”