BANGOR – One doesn’t need to look hard to find signs that the 2004 harness racing season is here.

Pickup trucks towing horse trailers can be seen in the vicinity of Bass Park, home of Bangor Raceway. Horses pulling trainers on sulkies have been running laps around the track, accompanied by the sound of muted, clopping hooves. The counters of local stores are stocked with schedules for the racing season, which begins at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

Track Manager Fred Nichols and his staff have been attending to dozens of last-minute details that must be taken care of before post time, ranging from putting together the race lineups to completing the race program.

In recent weeks, a small village of campers has sprung up behind the grandstand. For the next three months, that village will house roughly 30 families who are part of the area’s harness racing community.

Many of those occupying the campsite – which Nichols has dubbed the “Mini Maritimes” – hail from the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

They are among the scores of owners, trainers and others who travel south each year for Bangor Raceway’s 10-week racing season, which runs through July 25.

In May and June, racing is conducted on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. The pace picks up in July, when there’s also racing on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On most days, the races start at 7:30 p.m., except Sundays, when post time is 1:30 p.m., and the Fourth of July, when racing begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Opening festivities tonight include a Dixieland jazz band and the City of Bangor Pace. City councilors will be special guests for the night and will be invited into the winner’s circle to congratulate the first past the post, Nichols said.

Race days here typically draw about 1,000 spectators. Poor weather, however, can cause crowd counts to plummet to the low hundreds, Nichols said. The exception is on the Fourth of July, the track’s most heavily attended day, when entire families flock to the track for the holiday festivities.

Nichols is among the harness racing supporters who hope to attract new fans – and new revenue – in the near future.

As a result of statewide and city referendums last year, Bangor Raceway became the only commercial harness racing track in Maine to win approval to install slot machines as a way to help bolster Maine’s struggling harness racing industry.

The so-called “racino” concept – industry jargon for racetrack casinos – was brought to Maine by Shawn Scott, the Las Vegas-based entrepreneur who orchestrated last year’s votes and owned Bangor Historic Track, the private company that operates racing at the city-owned track.

To that end, the question on many people’s minds is when will the slots be installed.

That’s a question that can’t yet be answered, Penn National spokesman Eric Schippers said Wednesday.

Earlier this month, Gov. John Baldacci signed the racino bill and outlined an executive order creating a gambling control advisory council that will begin developing rules and procedures for the operation of slots. The legislation doesn’t take effect until July 29.

Schippers said Penn National – which hopes to install up to 1,500 slot machines at Bangor Raceway – now is working with the city on site development plans and gearing up for the suitability background check that will be part of the application process for a gaming license.

Schippers did not foresee problems with suitability, given the fact that Penn holds gaming licenses in seven states and Canada. However, the amount of revenue the state will capture from gaming proceeds, estimated at more than $80 million a year, could affect the scope of its development here.

While Schippers and Nichols say it will be business as usual this year from a racing standpoint, fans will see a dramatically different grandstand interior as a result of remodeling started by Scott and completed by Penn.

The interior now is heated and has air conditioning. It is newly carpeted and freshly painted and has been decorated with murals and memorabilia featuring highlights from the raceway’s more than a century of history. Betting windows have been rebuilt, restrooms have been renovated and new windows and glass doors let the sunlight in.

Under Penn’s ownership, races from Bangor will be simulcast out-of-state for the first time. The signal will be beamed to 15 Penn-owned facilities in three states, including Freehold Raceway in New Jersey, Charles Town Races & Slots in West Virginia and Penn National Racecourse, the Downs at Pocono and Penn’s 11 off-track wagering facilities, all in Pennsylvania.

The move is expected to bring new revenue to the Bangor operation, though how much remains to be determined.

So, what does the future hold for Bangor Raceway?

City officials hope the arrival of slots will turn the raceway, once a drain on city finances, into an economic engine for the region, creating a new revenue stream for such projects as a new arena to replace the aging Bangor Auditorium.

Horsemen believe the new revenues will fatten purses, which will increase the number and quality of horses racing here.

Nichols said that race dates, now at less than 30 a year, will increase to 100 or more, possibly as early as 2006.

Nichols said the track has been in jeopardy of closing several times in the past decade, largely due to lackluster earnings.

“But [city councilors] didn’t have the will to close it because it affects the lives of a lot of people,” he said. With the approval of slots, he said, “The future is secured.”