The look of folk under production Brewer company printing thousands of T-shirts, caps and totes for festival

Organizers of this year’s National Folk Festival in Bangor want to make sure festival-goers are properly attired while they boogie to bluegrass tunes and croon to country music.

That’s why W.S. Emerson of Brewer is screen printing nearly 12,000 Folk Festival T-shirts, almost double last year’s order.

“This is the biggest order of the year of one design,” said owner John Vickery. “It’s a real team effort.”

Selling for $15, the short-sleeve shirts are available in pink, gray, lime green and bright blue, and feature the multicolored Folk Festival logo depicting a shadowed musician.

The company’s regular staff of 40 employees began production of the shirt July 28 and plan to complete the order – which also includes 1,400 embroidered baseball caps and 500 tote bags – by Monday.

“There isn’t one person who hasn’t handled these shirts at least once,” said Betsy Vickery, supervisor of the embroidery department.

Youth shirts will sell for $10, caps for $12, and tote bags for $10, according to Folk Festival coordinator Heather McCarthy. Proceeds from the sale of the items will go into the festival’s operating budget, she said.

Despite the workload, the company continues to fill its regular orders, John Vickery said.

“We can’t just dedicate six days to one customer,” he said.

The company screen printed the shirts for last year’s festival and in June again beat out both in-state and out-of-state bidders for the order, John Vickery said. The large volume allowed his company to bid aggressively and produce the shirts at a special rate, he said.

“We’re really proud to have done this,” he said. “The more they order allows us to be more competitive.”

About 900 bright orange shirts have been set aside for festival volunteers and 130 teal shirts for staff, according to Merri-Lee West, director of sales for the company. Musical performers will don pale green shirts with a complete listing of festival musicians on the back, while Red Cross volunteers will sport white shirts, she said. These shirts will not be available for sale, West said.

“The colors are nice and bright,” she said. “The lime was the most popular last year, so we have plenty of those.”

The company hopes to secure the profitable order again for next year’s festival, John Vickery said.

“We will definitely submit an aggressive bid next year,” he said.