BANGOR – Anyone needing help at this year’s National Folk Festival shouldn’t have to look too far.

Approximately 800 volunteers in bright red T-shirts will be scattered throughout downtown Bangor during the festival assisting with everything from setup and parking to running sales and information booths.

“It’s going to be just a sea of red shirts,” Noel Richards, assistant festival director, said.

Beginning in April, a committee of about 40 volunteers headed by volunteer director Mary Turner met once a month to organize and plan.

Each volunteer had to attend an hour-long training session where they were given packets of information, including instructions on what to do in emergency situations. They also learned about the specific areas in which they will be volunteering.

“This festival works in large part because of the commitment of the volunteers,” Turner said. She considers the volunteers to be festival ambassadors because they are often the first people attendees encounter when parking their cars, and the people they interact with all day when buying food, CDs and souvenirs. The volunteers are also the traffic directors of the festival, helping people find their way from one venue to another.

This is Turner’s second year as volunteer director. The first year, she headed the Bucket Brigade. The group of energetic volunteers circulates throughout the festival collecting donations from festival-goers.

There are about 20 different volunteer tasks, including backstage hospitality, the bucket brigade, music sales and parking patrol.

Of this year’s 800 volunteers, half of them volunteered last year and about one-quarter will have volunteered for all three years that the festival has been in Bangor.

“The fact that they keep coming back tells me that they want this to be a success,” Turner said.

Volunteers come from as far away as New York and from all over Maine.

On Saturday night, volunteers – and only volunteers – are invited to a special party where musical artists from the festival jam with one another and everyone gets out on the dance floor.

“The party is like almost indescribable,” Turner said.

“I’ve never seen so many people dance in Bangor in my life,” said Maria Baeza, a member of the festival’s board of directors.

And although it’s a nice bonus, the party isn’t the only reason people pitch in.

Kate Quinn Finlay, 49, of Belfast volunteered at last year’s Folk Festival by helping out with the information booth. Originally from Bangor and now a social worker at Waldo County Preschool Services, Finlay heard about the festival from family members.

“I came the first year and said the next year I’m going to volunteer,” she said.

Finlay said she enjoys “the general spirit” of the festival. “It just has an amazing energy.”

“I think right now we all need some positive spirit in our lives and this definitely does it,” she said.

Giving back to the community is an important aspect of helping out for many volunteers. Since the Folk Festival first came to Bangor in 2002, inmates and staff at the Charleston Correctional Facility have been donating time to help with setup and cleanup of the site.

“It’s a return to the community by the prisoners through community service and the Folk Festival is certainly a very worthy event in the community that benefits everybody in our greater communities,” Chief Administrative Officer Stephen Berry said. “They’re not looking for a pat on the back, they’re not looking for anything other than the fact that they’re out there returning to the community and [that] they were trusted to do so.”

Connie and Jack Kelsey of Bangor also are return volunteers. The couple works together running the information booth and Connie’s Carts.

“We have been volunteering for all of our married life,” Connie Kelsey said. “We love Bangor for everything it stands for.”

“We’re there to make sure people know how much we want them here in Bangor to enjoy themselves,” Jack Kelsey said.

Connie’s Carts are actually golf carts driven by volunteers that help festival-goers who have limited mobility and need assistance getting from one venue to another on site.

“It’s worked very well,” Connie Kelsey said. “People really appreciate the help.”

During the first year of the festival, Connie Kelsey was a member of the Bucket Brigade, “but then I realized I needed her in the information booth,” Jack Kelsey said. “It’s always good to have a best friend working with you.”

The festival also is a family event for the Kelseys. At 97 years old, Connie’s mother, Ida Schiro of Bangor, may have been the oldest festival-goer last year.

“This is a family time and a friendship time and just a good time,” Connie Kelsey said.