Visit to Lowell Folk Festival reaps advice for Bangor

LOWELL, Mass. – George Price had a red, white and blue umbrella in his hand and was leading the Bronx New Heaven Shout Band down a street here during last weekend’s Lowell Folk Festival. People on the street stopped and clapped. Others joined the parade. Children in a wagon copiously blew bubbles as their father pulled them along. Eventually, the brass players reached the city center and formed a circle. “Oh, when the saints,” screamed out the leader. And the crowd called back, “Oh, when the saints!” The leader continued: “Come marching in.” And the crowd: “Come marching in!”

The scene was loud and joyful. But it wasn’t the type of celebration Price, who works for the National Park Service, saw in 1980 when he moved to the city to manage its then new national historic park. In those days, many of the downtown storefronts, once the bustling center of a prosperous industrial area, were abandoned. Trash littered the streets. And civic pride had long ago been washed away by troubled economic times.

“It was very different from what it looks like today,” said Price. “You could walk down Merrimack Street on a Sunday and you could roll a bowling ball down the street and not hit even one car. In the city at that time, there were a lot of disbelievers, a lot of cynics who didn’t think that a revitalization of the city would work.”

But work it has. Through a bevy of local, state and federal initiatives, Lowell has become a destination spot, particularly for those interested in the history of the industrial revolution, performing arts and sports events, and outdoor music and ethnic festivals. The Lowell festival, which celebrated its 18th anniversary last weekend, is one of the largest free folk festivals in the country and the most successful spin-off event in the history of the National Folk Festival.

Because of the smooth transition from National Folk Festival to local folk festival, a transition Bangor will make next summer, Lowell can serve as a model for Bangor, say its organizers.

“Lowell’s renaissance was happening before the National Folk Festival arrived,” said Sandy Walter, deputy regional director of the National Park Service, which co-produces the Lowell festival with the city, the Lowell Festival Foundation and the National Council for the Traditional Arts. “But it became the icing on the cake. After it proved to be sustainable, businesses realized that this town has the right quality of life for their workers. It was important to have more than one or two or three organizations contributing. It takes a whole village to run a festival and Bangor will never be able to maintain its festival unless everyone is involved.”

In terms of quality, the most important producing partner, said Walter, is the NCTA, which programs the National Folk Festival, slated this year for Aug. 27-29 on the Bangor Waterfront. Bangor has already asked the Washington-based group to continue its programming role but that’s only possible if the funding is available to support the $1 million event. While it’s possible that the Bangor festival may decide to feature fewer acts in its inaugural year, officials at NCTA, which is funded in Lowell by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, say it’s not about size but about excellence.

Because Bangor’s festival is a statewide event, which drew more than 110,000 participants last year, the state of Maine may have to take a producing role similar to the one played by the National Park Service in Lowell, according to Julia Olin, associate director at NCTA and lead programmer for the National Folk Festival in Bangor, said there is every reason to believe the American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, scheduled to kick off next August, can be every bit as successful as the Lowell Festival.

“There is a team of folks involved in all our festival works and it’s interesting that they all love Bangor,” said Olin. “Even those who have done the festivals for a long, long time think Bangor is very special. I believe Bangor has something very distinctive going for it right now, and I think the city can pull it off. It involves a lot of imagination and hard work to keep up the funding for something like this. And if Bangor decides to cut too many corners artistically, we can’t go down that road. But I have a better feeling about the future of a festival in Bangor that I’ve had in many other locations.”

Others at the Lowell Festival, including Maria Baeza, a therapist and festival board member in Bangor, said that the combination of high quality acts, free access and careful fund-raising were vital components. She also noticed that Lowell, despite the fact that it showcased fewer artists, had more varieties of food than the Bangor festivals have offered in the last two years. She will lobby for more ethnic foods when she returns to Bangor, she said.

But after two days in Lowell, she had other insights about the potential that Bangor holds.

“Having our festival on the riverfront and having a denser crowd in a smaller space, you’re touching elbows with your neighbors,” said Baeza. “The people in Bangor are so alive at the festival. Even the artists told me that last year. I know Lowell isn’t Boston, but it’s a more metropolitan area than Bangor. So after being in Lowell, I can say I think Bangor does itself proud. If Bangor knew what a good job it is doing, it would be proud. I’m proud.”

Pride, of course, is another important component, said Janet Leggett, executive director of the Lowell Festival. But she had other advice for Bangor.

“Concentrate on the important things: the music and the production of the music,” said Leggett, stressing the importance of maintaining high artistic standards. “Don’t start messing with it just because it becomes local.”

Joe Wilson, who was announcing the Lowell Festival on live radio, said Bangor could learn about two important elements from its Massachusetts neighbor: “You could put the success of this festival into one word: passion,” he said. “Or you could put it into two words about the people of Lowell: They care. There will always be things at the heart of Maine, things basic to the state. Keep your eye on that. There will be ups and downs, but we always win with that.”

Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.