Bangor -
The folk festival has been livening up the Bangor waterfront for 11 years now.
There have been some obstacles to overcome, but we found out not much has changed.
When you start an event like Bangor's folk festival, there's always a learning curve.
" We learned a lot about cars coming into Bangor and what routes they should take and how many food vendors we needed," said Heather McCarthy, executive director of the American Folk Festival.
It all started in 2002, as the National Folk Festival. Now, it's the American Folk Festival, and it's a staple of summer.
" It's like a buffet of interesting, new, amazing cuisine, musically speaking," said Yellow Light Breen.
Breen is executive vice president at Bangor Savings Bank. The company has been sponsoring the event from the beginning.
" This is our hometown, we've been here for 160 years now, almost 400 of our employees work in Bangor," said Breen.
Being a sponsor of the American Folk Festival means more than just money. The company provides volunteers, too.
" The only reason it can be hard to find volunteers is because they'd rather attend as a spectator," said Breen with a smile.
Some things have changed over the years. It's expanded, there's a children's center, there are new performers and different foods, but McCarthy says there are some things that will hopefully never change.
" To keep a traditional arts festival, free admission and keep bringing the highest quality performers," said McCarthy.
Another thing that likely won't be changing anytime soon is the amount of fun that's had at the Bangor waterfront during the last weekend in August.
Add your Comments