The Anah Highlanders pipe and drum band marched, in rows of three, in perfect time, wearing MacIntosh Tartan kilts and feathered caps. As they approached the Railroad Stage, the wail of bagpipes grew louder and the mob behind them swelled. It wasn’t exactly “Braveheart,” but it looked as though they were leading troops into battle.

But the crowd that had gathered on the field before them Friday evening was prepared for the invasion. On lawn chairs and blankets, propped up on shoulders and cruising in strollers, they waited, several thousand strong, and cheered as the 66th National Folk Festival charged Bangor’s waterfront.

“This is unbelievable,” John Rohman, the festival’s past chairman, said over the strains of “God Bless America” from the Bangor-based Highlanders. “There are times when I look out over this crowd and literally the hairs on the back of my head stand up.”

Though official numbers weren’t available at press time, the crowd was, indeed, hair-raising.

It was, by all accounts, the strongest opening night in Bangor’s three-year history with the National, which drew 110,000 people over three days last year. Though the music wasn’t slated to start until 5:30 p.m., people had claimed their territory in front of several stages well before 5.

At the Heritage Stage, where the Reeltime Travelers warmed up for their opening set, Mary McLaughlin of Millinocket came early to snag a prime seat in the front row. But then again, she and her husband, Eugene, and their daughters and grandchildren reserved their hotel rooms in January – just to be on the safe side.

“It brings a lot of people,” Eugene McLaughlin said.

“That’s all they talk about up our way,” Mary added.

They’ve already marked the dates for next year’s American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, a local spinoff of the National, which heads to Richmond, Va., next summer.

Their daughter Debbie Dumais said the festival opened her eyes to new types of music, and she doesn’t expect the quality, the diversity or the attendance to change.

“I think it’ll still be the same, I really do,” she said. “I don’t think it’s going to hurt the crowd at all.”

Local organizers are in negotiations with the National Council for the Traditional Arts, which produces the festival, to assist in next year’s event.

And Dwain Winters, the NCTA’s technical director, said the city has what it takes to make its own festival fly.

“I’m very confident,” Winters said. “[Bangor organizers] have a vision and a real understanding of what this festival is about. They know if they bring in quality performers in a quality setting, they’ll come, they’ll enjoy, and they’ll bring others.”

As he prepared to introduce Ralph Stanley, a boat builder and National Heritage Fellow from Southwest Harbor, Gov. John Baldacci pledged his support in the future.

And he praised the event for bringing diversity – both economic and social – to the region, which in turn pushes the creative economy forward.

“We’ve got to build on this. … We’re going to build our creative talent, our focus, and galvanize economic support,” Baldacci promised a constituent before continuing on toward the stage. “What happens is we’re opening up this community to the entire state. We’ll be partnering with the city. I know they want to make it the American Folk Festival, but we want to make it a state of Maine festival, too.”

Though the festival has opened Maine – and the rest of the country – to Bangor, it also has opened people here to new experiences.

Just ask Betsy Spear, 6, of Holden, who was watching the Kotchegna Dance Company.

The costumes were vibrant, but Betsy wanted to hear a little zydeco like she did two years ago, when Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas came to town.

“Are they on tonight?” she asked.

Nathan wasn’t in town, but Dexter Ardoin and the Creole Ramblers would shake things up later in the dance tent. And that’s why Betsy, her parents, Mona and Alan, and her brothers Matthew and Benjamin have come to the festival for three consecutive years.

“Why do we come? The culture,” Mona Spear said. “The music, all the different cultures. The kids – and we – get exposed to all different kinds of music and dance.”

If it weren’t for the National this weekend, Chelsea Mooney, 17, of Hampden and her friends probably would be at home watching TV or at the beach.

Instead they were watching a bagpipe band, getting ready to hear the blues and, of course, eating. With the smell of fried dough, crab rangoon and barbecue wafting through the air, it was hard to think of anything else.

“Ah, the food,” Mooney said. “And I like the atmosphere, too. It’s not like anything that’s usually around here.”

Mike Manzo of Eddington stood at the entrance to the Sea Dog restaurant, about to make his way over to the Railroad Stage to hear Pinetop Perkins.

He gestured to the people streaming by – children riding piggyback on their parents’ shoulders, teenagers holding hands, younger couples laughing, eating pie cones, sipping lemonade and smiling on a balmy evening.

“It’s good to see people get out and enjoy themselves,” Manzo said. “To build this, what’s going on, it’s really good. It’s good for the city.”

And it’s good for morale, too. For Norma Peters, a native of Colombia who has lived in Bangor for years, it’s a chance to reconnect with her roots. She has come to the festival each year, and she brings her comfortable shoes.

“I’ve danced at every one of them,” she said, laughing. “We dance a lot anyways.”

Though she was already well-connected with the area’s Latino community, she said the festival has increased cultural awareness in the region in general.

“I’ve been here so long now, but it’s been nice to have this because it’s so different from when this was not here,” Peters said. “Now the other people have a sense of what it’s like to be around not just different ethnic groups, but music and food too. I think it’s a wonderful beginning. Now we understand each other a little bit more.”