Folk on the water 65th national festival kicks off its sophomore year in Bangor

When Therese Mowrer of Orono asked her son how he wanted to celebrate his 10th birthday, Dominic’s answer was simple: go to the National Folk Festival.

The boy had so much fun last year he wanted to go back. So on Friday afternoon, Dominic, his brothers Christian and Cameron, and their buddies Christian Corneil and Alex Introne arrived early to take in the scene. As they sat around a picnic table on the Bangor waterfront, munching on blooming onions and french fries, their mom described the festival’s appeal.

“They need to know that other people and other cultures exist – I think that’s important in this day and age,” said Mowrer, who moved here from Texas to be closer to her mother. “There’s something for them to see outside of Maine.”

On Friday night, there was a lot for them to see inside Maine as the 65th National Folk Festival rolled into town. Organizers said the opening-night crowd for the festival, in year two of a three-year stint in Bangor, was higher than last year’s estimate of 10,000 people, but they were reluctant to talk numbers.

“We’ve got the show up and running with a fair

amount of style,” said Dwain Winters, technical director for the National Council for the Traditional Arts, which produces the festival. “Our emphasis is on quality instead of quantity. … If we get more people coming, that’s even better.”

Better still, he said, with each year the city shows its potential for handling a locally produced music festival when the National moves on after 2004.

“This is as good as it gets,” Winters said.

That’s what Roy and Barbara Carter of East Millinocket had heard after they skipped the festival last August. This weekend they’ve booked a campsite in Hermon with their family.

“We heard we missed a good time,” Roy Carter said as he waited to hear Dale Watson and His LoneStars, the first of nine acts on Friday’s lineup. “That’s why we’re here.”

Last year, no one knew what to expect, and a sense of surprise and discovery filled the festival grounds when a brass band paraded a crowd of thousands through the streets, its leader waving an umbrella and grooving to the beat. This year, festival-goers were prepared. They even brought their own umbrellas for the opening parade with the Bronx New Heaven Shout Band.

As its eight members wailed on their horns to “When the Saints Go Marching In,” people in the audience raised their hands – and their umbrellas. Spirits were so high that a marching woman waved bystanders into the procession, demanding they participate.

“Come on people, dance,” she said.

And dance they did. Young, old, on their dads’ shoulders and on foot, they snaked down Front Street. One elderly woman held her husband’s hand and danced alongside his wheelchair while their son pulled him in front of the band.

At one point, the musicians stopped and formed a circle. For a moment, Bangor was the center of the universe, and these were its eight stars. Blowing horns. All the way to the next stage, the largest venue on the festival grounds, already blanketed with fans.

Tom Trachsel and Melanie Schenemann of Minneapolis were in the crowd. They had been vacationing in the region, heard about the National Folk Festival, and planned a visit to Bangor around it.

“We would’ve come here [if the festival weren’t in town], maybe going through, but we wouldn’t have made it a specific stop,” Trachsel said.

“We do want to experience Maine culturally and this facilitates that,” Schenemann added.

They’ll head to Mount Desert Island today, in part because of their itinerary, and in part because they couldn’t find a hotel room for both nights. They all were booked.

Despite the fact that more than 10,000 people swelled the waterfront last night, the Bangor Police Department reported no festival-related incidents. However, police were searching for an inmate from Charleston Correctional Facility who escaped earlier in the day while doing a minimum-security work detail on the festival grounds. Officer Mark Hathaway said the man had not been located but police would continue to work with the Department of Corrections to find the man.

While numbers were higher than last year, food lines were markedly shorter. The shows ran smoothly and on time. The crowd was mellow and happy. They came early and stayed through the last act, filling the dance tent while Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown played the blues.

Earlier in the evening, Brandon Davis, 19, and Samantha Clukey, 18, both of Bangor, said if it weren’t for the National, they would be sitting at home, watching a movie. Instead, they were on their way to see Barachois, an Acadian band. They both attended last year’s festival, and they hope to take in all three days of the festival this year.

“Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect last year,” Davis said.

“I thought it was pretty cool,” Clukey added.

And if the response to Barachois was any indication, the audience thinks this year’s festival is cool, too. As they took the stage, Albert Arsenault of the Prince Edward Island-based band asked the crowd, “Comment ca flip?” Acadian for “How do you feel?”

Hundreds of people answered in unison.

“Ca flip pretty good!”