Bangor eyes folk festival payoff

BANGOR – In the middle of a grassy field off Railroad Street on Tuesday, the Papantla Flyers curiously studied the 100-foot-long utility pole still lying on its side.

The Mexican troupe, which just arrived in the city for this weekend’s National Folk Festival, nodded with approval at the massive cedar column on which they will dance – and from which they will jump – as part of the weekend event, expected to draw up to 60,000 people to Bangor’s once-industrial waterfront.

While festival crews won’t erect the pole – more than 2-feet in diameter at its base -until later today, there was still plenty to do as the Queen City looks to sport her best dress for the throngs of expected visitors.

“For what we’re doing, we’re right on,” said City Engineer Jim Ring of Bangor’s effort in conjunction with the National Council for the Traditional Arts – and hundreds of volunteers – to ready the site and prepare for the crowds.

Ring’s services are but part of the city’s contribution to the festival.

Bangor has already donated $150,000 cash for the festival’s three-year stint. In addition, the city has set aside $100,000 for expenses associated with the festival and the Senior League World Series, which ended Saturday after drawing more than 10,000 people to the city during its 7-day stint.

While the 60,000 crowd estimate seemed high to some for the festival’s first year, it would not be the largest the city has seen. In 2000, about 70,000 people came to see the Blue Angels at the Maine Air National Guard base.

For the festival, city officials are hoping for a significant return on their already hefty investments.

“Well, it really is a gigantic hosting,” said City Councilor John Rohman, who also serves as chairman of the National Folk Festival in Bangor. “We hope the people not only see the festival, but get their first introduction to our waterfront and downtown.”

Among the people set to attend the much-ballyhooed weekend event are some “heavy hitter” developers who could be interested in the city’s $183 million waterfront plan, said Rohman, on his way to Portland for an interview at Maine Public Broadcasting.

With the festival putting the city squarely in the spotlight, the interview is but one of dozens Rohman and others have given in recent months, and city leaders here are pleased with the attention.

Some of the attention has come in the form of donations. With organizers within about $70,000 of their $800,000 goal for the first year, Rohman said fund-raising efforts are on track.

Festival organizers have already raised $300,000 for both the 2003 and 2004 festivals, each of which is expected to cost about $500,000, Rohman said.

Money is nice, but to best woo future visitors and perhaps businesses, officials also know the festival needs to go off with as few hitches as possible.

To help ensure a smooth weekend, the city is poised to spend thousands of dollars in overtime costs for police and paramedic services.

Overtime costs will be taken from the $100,000 already allocated from the city’s undesignated fund balance.

City Manager Edward Barrett estimated the city spent about $30,000 from that fund -$12,000 of it in overtime costs – on the baseball tournament.

In addition to the increased police presence, city officials will look to control traffic by offering continuing shuttles – in a newly designed bus no less – from the vast parking lots at Bass Park to the riverfront.

Along the Penobscot River on Tuesday, multicolored tents sprouted up like mushrooms as crews did everything from build stages to pluck yellowing leaves from a hillside bed of day lilies near the site.

There have been more than a few challenges along the way. The city engineer, when faced with a stage too high for inside the Penobscot River tent, remedied the problem by excavating a 2-foot-deep pit beneath the entire stage.

And there’s still much to do – including erecting the Papantla Flyers pole – with just two more days before this weekend’s festival.

“And nights,” Ring quickly added. “I’m serious.”