Bangor has shown twice through the National Folk Festival that it knows how to throw a party. The top-notch entertainment, enthusiastic crowds and positive reviews made the city look at itself in a new way. Keeping this cultural and morale booster going means switching from the three-year outlook of the folk festival and to a permanent view of Bangor as an annual destination for the kinds of acts and offerings the festival presented.

The National Folk Festival cost about $1 million a year. As it prepares to move to another city next year, Bangor rightfully wants to replace it. Local festival officials say the planned American Folk Festival for Bangor will have the same sorts of acts, the same high-quality entertainment – and, not surprisingly, the same $1 million budget. Raising money for next year and all the years after that will require a high-quality act all its own.

Since 2002, local businesses have contributed about half of the festival’s funding. But the local company that gave generously for two or three years can’t be expected to give at that level forever. Charging admission, while not entirely ruled out, would be difficult to carry out and discourages people from coming. It’s not a great option.

Instead the officials hope to tap two sources, both important, though for different reasons. The first is national grantors and foundations. The folk festival has received about $70,000 a year from this source previously; the American Folk Festival wants to collect $300,000 from these sources.

The second source is smaller and concerns – you knew this was coming – you. Individual contributions fell from about $78,000 in 2002 to $11,000 this year; starting in 2005, festival promoters want that number to rise from $35,000 to $75,000. That level of contribution provides only a small additional boost to the overall funding, but it represents hundreds of additional local contributors, giving them an automatic interest in seeing the festival succeed.

It’s no accident that increased cultural activity and a livelier downtown have coincided with the city’s folk festival success. It would be a shame to lose the progress made in the last two years, and with a deft combination of major outside funding sources and local support, Bangor doesn’t have to.