Brooklin innkeeper plans music festival Daylong event to feature popular folk performers

Butch Smith has always loved music. He also loves the Lookout Inn in the Hancock County town of Brooklin, which he has run for 30 years and has been in his family for more than 100 years. This summer, Smith plans to combine music and location for the Flye Point Music and Arts Festival, a one-day melange of folk music and art, 11 a.m.- 7 p.m. Saturday, June 26. The rain date is June 27.

“This is a great place for a festival,” said Smith, who has booked seven acts for the eight-hour performance schedule.

Among the more popular performance names for the festival are: Judy Collins, Odetta and David Mallett. Others on the lineup include the Mammals, a string band that includes Pete Seeger’s grandson, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Ballykelty, a folk-Celtic quartet, Jennifer Armstrong, a singer-storyteller, and Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, whose music combines rock, blues, folk and country. Guthrie, who has been performing with Irion for four years, is the youngest daughter of world-renowned folk singer Arlo Guthrie and the granddaughter of the legendary Woody Guthrie.

The festival, which has several Maine business sponsors, will also feature food vendors and a tent for artwork.

“Everyone seems positive that we need something like this in the area,” said Smith, a seventh-generation member of the Flye family for whom the point is named. “And because this is my 30th year at the inn, this is a little bit of a party and a little bit something to do for Brooklin.”

The Lookout, which is a country inn on 31 acres, sits on a picturesque jut of land overlooking Blue Hill Bay. Rooms and cabins on the property will be available for overnight stays during the festival. But Smith says they are going fast. He hopes that about 4,000 people will attend the event.

Tickets for the general public go on sale at the end of March, although Brooklin residents have already been able to purchase the $40 all-day tickets at a special booth for local residents.

“Folk is a very popular type of music in this area,” said Smith.

For information about the festival or availability of rooms at the inn, call 359-2188, or go online to www.fpmusicfest.com. Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 or aanstead@bangordailynews.net.