When the American Folk Festival took off in 2005, organizers knew there'd be great expectations.

After all, crowds had already filled the Bangor waterfront three years running for the National Folk Festival.

As the American Folk Festival heads into it's sixth year now, organizers believe they've gone beyond what visitors were first hoping for with the event - and, as Catherine Pegram found, they hope to keep doing that for years to come.

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"The simple vision of it was to make sure that we brought some really diverse acts, some quality kind of music, some quality dance, some quality entertainment to the waterfront for our citizens.'

It's a vision John Rohman and other city leaders who brought the National Folk Festival to Bangor in 2002 wanted to continue with the spin off the American Folk Festival, three years later.

Since then, many aspects of the three-day musical extravaganza have remained the same.

But not all of them.

"I think the biggest change has been the incredible ownership of the community over time."

Maria Baeza is the chair of the board of directors for this year's festival.

"I think it's magical. I think that the festival started out sort of in the hands of some visionaries thinking that this little town is like the little engine that could. I think I can, I think I can and we did."

For some, the success of the American Folk Festival is measured by the crowd. Attendance has more doubled from the early days of the National Folk Festival with 116-thousand visits last year, in spite of a near wash-out one of the days.

The space for all of those people has also changed.

"When we first started down here, we were on dirt. Now we have wonderful paved areas for our vendors, we've got beautiful brick walkways and frankly extensions of walkways going on right now.

Baeza says the biggest goal now for the festival is sustainability.

"I want my grandchildren to be coming to this festival and saying I think my grandmother had a part in it, you know. I think in order for that to happen, we constantly have to stay open and look at very, very critically be willing to make some hard decisions."

Among those decisions - how to keep covering the costs of the event, without charging admission. Funding for the festival has been an on-going issue as its continued to acquire debt.

Rohman says that's forced organizers to find new ways to make money, such as turning over paid services to volunteers.

"the beer tent is a perfect example. The beer tent has some potential for some, obviously, pretty good income and in the past the beer tents was a contracted item. And last year the American Folk Festival took it on and we're looking forward to doing it again this year."

Baeza says this year there's also more clarity about the relationship between the festival and the city. In February organizers signed an agreement specifically outlining the city's support for the event and a plan for the festival to pay back some of the money it owes.

As the American Folk Festival heads into it's sixth year, Rohman and Baeza agree it's now etched into the city's summer calendar.

"This is clearly something that's really engrained in the greater Bangor community and has pretty far reaching effects. The camp grounds are filled, the hotels are filled and it's because people, year after year, are coming back now."

And for Baeza, that means no end in sight.

"My vision from here on out is that every year, at the end of the summer, 900 volunteers from all over, mostly the community, come together to celebrate as neighbors, traditions of the world. Whether it's six stages, eight stages, four stages, however many stages there are - that's what's going to happen."

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Maria Baeza says besides planning for next year's folk festival, organizers are also brainstorming about ways to keep the spirit of the festival alive all year long - like offering special concerts in the winter, too.

Another dream is an endowment or investment fund that could be set up to help pay for future festivals.

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