162,000 folks set record at Bangor fest Crowd more than double that of first festival five years ago

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BANGOR – Even before the dust from last weekend’s American Folk Festival had fully settled, organizers and supporters were chalking up another resounding success.

The folk festival, which ran from Friday through Sunday, broke another attendance record, topping last year’s crowd of 145,000 by an estimated 12 percent, putting the total at 162,000, Heather McCarthy, the festival’s executive director, said Monday.

That’s more than double the 80,000 headcount registered when the National Folk Festival made its debut here five years ago.

The attendance figures are based on estimates provided by the National Council on the Traditional Arts, which has a staff member with expertise in that area. Headcount estimates are based on densities shown in aerial photographs, among other things.

“We’re absolutely happy, and the public was happy, and the sponsors are happy,” McCarthy said several hours after the annual post-festival recap meeting, held Monday morning at the Holiday Inn on the Odlin Road.

“And the people who came – they were loving the music and the dancing and the waterfront and the community that put this all on,” McCarthy said.

Festival chairman Brad Ryder, a downtown businessman, agreed.

“I think Friday was one of the strongest Fridays we’ve had so far,” Ryder said. Saturday also was strong in terms of attendance, though Sunday was off a bit because of the threat of rain, which held off until the final acts were on the stage, half an hour before the festival ended.

“I consider that a win,” McCarthy said about the festival’s weather track record.

“I was up at the Railroad Stage, and when the rain started, umbrellas popped up and everyone just stayed where they were,” Ryder said.

Bangor City Council Chairman John Cashwell also pronounced the festival a success.

“As mayor I couldn’t be prouder of the staff, volunteers, the city and the more than 160,0000 people who attended,” Council Chairman John Cashwell said Monday.

“The weather was perfect and so were the people,” Cashwell said. “It was a pleasure to have them as our guests.

“I watched a lot, and there were signs that we’re providing quality entertainment to quality people,” he said, citing a lack of trash on the ground during the three-day event and the absence of rowdy behavior as some of those signs.

The rain made the job of breaking down the festival soggy, but did not otherwise impede the cleanup.

“It would have been easier if it were drier,” Ryder said. “That’s the thing you have zero control over.”

Last weekend’s three-day binge of music, dancing, crafts, food and more was the fifth such event to take place at Bangor Waterfront.

It all began in 2002, when Bangor was tapped to host a three-year run of the National Folk Festival.

After the national event moved on to Richmond, Va., in 2005, the community started up a festival of its own and the American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront was born.

The festival costs about $1 million to put on each year, with funding coming from corporate sponsors, city government and other donors, large and small.

Ryder said this year’s festival opened with a deficit of about $150,000 and that it will be several more weeks before the budget dust settles down.

“This year we worked really hard on describing and explaining the bucket brigade, and people really responded.”

Asked if he thought the festival would break even or end with a surplus to put toward next year, Ryder said, “That won’t be determined for well over a month. I’m not going to speculate on that because that would be premature.”

With planning already under way for next year’s festival, organizers will be keeping an eye on development projects on and near the waterfront, McCarthy said.

“That may [cause organizers to change the site layout] but it remains to be seen,” she said. “We had contingency plans for this year but didn’t have to use them.”

If construction on the new state courthouse begins on the space now used by the Kenduskeag dance stage, some things might need to be relocated, McCarthy and Ryder agreed.

“There’s potential expansion room,” Ryder said about the roughly 12 acres of undeveloped space along the waterfront.

“We’re lucky,” he said. “There are a lot of other places [that host festivals] that don’t have the luxury of all that space.”