Buskers entertain at folk festival

BANGOR – Ingrid Handrahan was tapping her feet Sunday as she sat on the Front Street curb listening to a couple of street performers play their tunes for passers-by.

“I think they’re pretty neat,” said the Milbridge woman, a huge smile on her face.

Handrahan was listening to brothers Zach Dozier, 21, a fiddle player, and Joe Flower, 18, who plays banjo. The duo have been playing Appalachian-style folk music together for about four years and moved to Maine from Portland, Ore., this week to attend the University of Maine at Machias.

They were among several street performers who entertained along Front Street during this weekend’s American Folk Festival.

On Saturday, Anna Riechmann, 20, of Orono was a golden living statue, standing perfectly still on the sidewalk of Front Street between the Penobscot stage and the food court.

With Saturday’s high-80s temperatures, one onlooker questioned how she could stand so still.

Most other street performers entertained with music.

“We’re all here for the same reason – to hear great music,” Bangor resident Jeff Silverstein said just after packing up his guitar Sunday.

“He’s got some great music to offer,” Silverstein said, indicating his son, 10-year-old fiddle player Max Silverstein.

The duo, who perform as Maximum Blue, play a variety of music and describe their style as Celtic bluegrass. On Sunday, they were playing on Railroad Street near the railroad track crossing.

“This is my third year here [at the festival] and fourth year playing,” Max Silverstein said.

“He looks forward to it,” his dad said.

Guitar player Jay Pelletier of Fort Kent, who performs as Jay Bird, said this year’s festival in Bangor was his first, but not his last.

“I play folk music,” he said. “That’s what I want to hear, and that’s why I’m here.”

Asked about the street performers, Heather McCarthy, executive director of the American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, said the law allows them, but there are concerns.

“We get concerned when crowds gather that interfere with festival traffic,” she said.

One female street performer who was swallowing fire and using a burning hula hoop on Friday evening was asked by police to stop for safety reasons, and she did so without incident.