Hundreds of people, like streams of lava, began to throng the Bangor waterfront at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24, even before the American Folk Festival officially opened. Musicians tested sound systems and waves of fragmented melody drifted out over the gathering crowd, promising the musical delights that were in store for us.

The smell of fried onions floated in the breeze. I homed in on the crabmeat roll, and was tempted by a “Dangerous Donut.”

Sure, music and food were what festival-goers were there for – that and the excitement of wading into the crowd, being part of the crowd, being part of the excitement and the milling community of people from all over.

And everywhere I looked I saw feet. Everyone, no matter how they arrived initially, ended up hoofing it to get around to the various stages and venues at the folk festival. It was true, I thought, what Dr. Suess wrote: “Feet, feet, feet. Oh, the wonderful feet you meet.”

I saw feet in combat boots, in Crocs, in leather sandals, in flip-flops, in all manner of sports shoes. I saw bare feet, children with wheels in their shoes, toddlers with twinkling lights in their soles and baby feet in tiny white socks.

I saw feet in Western boots, in hiking boots and proper black dress-up shoes. I saw feet in platform heels, in ballerina flats and even feet in a pair of knee-high boots with big square heels made for stomping and zippers that looked vicious enough to bite.

Debbie Kemrite of Winterport walked along the street barefoot, carrying her flip-flops. She said she had developed a small chafed spot between her toes, but otherwise her feet were doing fine.

“I put the flip-flops on in the food area,” she said, laughing. “That seemed like a good idea.”

Her friend Lisa LaPointe, also of Winterport, wore a pair of sandals with a high-tech look that she said were very comfortable. The two women were headed to the Railroad Stage and were certain their feet would willingly take them where they wanted to go.

On Saturday evening, one pair of feet I encountered belonged to Karen Pendleton of Bangor.

“My feet are doing very well,” she said. “I wear a different pair of shoes each day.” She had already made several trips to the festival within four hours, walking from her home located near the downtown area. “I think there ought to be a booth [at the festival] where you can get a foot massage,” she said.

We had this conversation just before Gary Sredzienski stomped his foot on the Two Rivers Stage to signal the beginning of his Polish accordion performance.

Most of his audience were off their feet, sitting in portable chairs or on the grass. But a couple of songs into the music, Rebekah Mundy and Michael Levinsky of Micha’s Polish Folk Dance Ensemble of Virginia Beach, Va., got to their feet and moved into the steps of a traditional village dance of Poland. The applause for their effort was immediate and several times Sredzienski thanked them for dancing, and asked the audience to applaud them.

The couple also danced the mazurka and the polonaise, the dances of the Polish nobility, bowing and curtseying to one another, entwining their arms, turning and stepping in intricate ways.

Very talented feet.

At the Eastern Maine Medical Center tent, I spoke with medical technician Terry Kovak.

“We’ve seen lots of blisters,” she said. “We went through a couple of boxes of Band-Aids today.” Don’t wear flip-flops, wear comfortable shoes, she advised. “Plastic, heat and feet don’t mix.”

Soon, many thousands of feet were strolling toward the Railroad Stage, where they settled down to groove with The Dixie Hummingbirds, Frank London’s Klezmer Brass All Stars and the blues notes of Bernard Allison.

It was during the klezmer band performance, after darkness had fallen, that I spotted the unmistakable silhouettes of Mundy and Levinsky, dark against the stage lights, rising up out of the seated audience, to dance yet another round to yet another brand of folk music.

And that is the image I will most remember from the 2007 American Folk Festival – how they moved so artfully on their feet, bending to the music, grace upon the grass.