The American Folk Festival and Downtown Business

Every August, more than 100,000 people visit Bangor during the American Folk Festival.

This year, the annual parade will start off downtown, but is there more that can be done to get the downtown businesses more involved in the festivities?

Rob Poindexter explores that question.
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Larry Killam - General Manager, Sea Dog: "It's definitely a big weekend for us, or the biggest weekend of the summer, and obviously it's a good way to end the summer I guess."

The folks at the Sea Dog are in a perfect location to reap the benefits of the 100,000 or more visitors that pack the waterfront every August. They sit right next to the action. But what about the heart of downtown? Do those businesses see a spike in business with all the extra foot traffic?

John Dobbs - Owner, Paddy Murphy's: "Definitely much more busy. It's definitely a different crowd. A lot more of a younger crowd. They seem to really enjoy Paddy Murphy's and the mixing with the older crowd."

While most businesses say they see a jump in business, they all say they'd like to see the festival spread out a little more to get the downtown area in on the celebration. City Councilor Cary Weston says the potential is there to show Bangor off a little.

Cary Weston - Bangor City Councilor: "One of the things I was hoping the Folk Festival could do is extend beyond a celebration of folk music and become a celebration of Bangor and the Bangor region."

The idea has some of downtown business owners excited.

John Dobbs - Owner, Paddy Murphy's: "You want to promote Bangor itself. You want to promote the people of Bangor, that's the most important thing. I think spreading it out a bit more so it's downtown helps some businesses, but it shows people how great downtown is."

Heather Vanfrankenhuyzen - Owner, Bella Luna: "I'd like to see more events closer to the downtown area. A lot of it is focused near the waterfront and there's a lot of great places in Bangor, you know in downtown, that could support something like that."

Cary Weston - Bangor City Councilor: "I think there's a tremendous opportunity to link the folk festival activities into downtown. Close off Main Street to West Market Square as a point of entertainment and have a market festival kind of like a Faneuil Hall atmosphere that brings people into downtown."

Heather Vanfrankenhuyzen - Owner, Bella Luna: "That would be great. I mean for foot traffic it would be fantastic. People could walk in the streets. People could not worry about their kids, you know with the traffic or anything."

The hope is business downtown could get an even bigger economic boost to close out their summer.