BANGOR – More people, more food, more parking and more Porto-Potties. Those were among the improvements organizers of this year’s National Folk Festival made after attendees of last year’s three-day event faced sold-out food vendors, long lines at the toilets and inefficient parking.

Predicting this year’s attendance figure reached the expected 100,000, festival coordinator Heather McCarthy said Monday the 65th annual festival, which wrapped up Sunday, was a success.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” she said. “We’re very pleased that festival-goers came here and had a wonderful experience.”

Ensuring sufficient stock of food for the more than 40 vendors, routing traffic efficiently from I-395 to designated parking areas and improving pedestrian traffic on Front Street were issues organizers anticipated and managed to provide for this year, she said.

A new entrance at West Market Square facilitated the flow of foot traffic and parking proved more efficient this year with the use of the Pickering Square parking garage and downtown streets in addition to Bass Park, McCarthy said.

Communication issues, including unreliable hand-held radios, proved problematic, but festival organizers did have a system in place to deal with a 3-year-old who became separated from her mother, McCarthy said. The child later was discovered with her father on the festival grounds as the result of a communication network between organizers, volunteers and local police, McCarthy said.

The system also is used to communicate with fire, rescue and railroad personnel in the event of an emergency, she said, but no fires or injuries were reported this year.

The organization of 850 volunteers, 100 more than last year, proved challenging, but was well worth the effort, McCarthy said.

“It’s a huge logistical issue, but the payoff is phenomenal,” she said.

Working with other volunteers to bring down tents and disassemble equipment on Railroad Street, McCarthy said the site should reopen to traffic on Wednesday. Despite an increase of 20,000 people over last year’s festival, she said cleanup has gone smoothly.

“It’s a great crowd. They’re not destructive, they’re not obnoxious,” McCarthy said.

And they’re part of why the 25 performing groups at this year’s festival enjoyed their stay in Bangor, she said.

“The performers are blown away by how welcoming the Bangor community is to them,” McCarthy said. “I think word will get out in the artistic community that Maine wants this kind of entertainment.”

The festival returns for its third and final year in Bangor next August.