Say what you will about the 2009 American Folk Festival: it was rainy on Saturday, it messed up traffic, there weren’t as many people… I thought it was amazing. This year, instead of learning just about music and culture, I also happened to learn a bunch about people and myself.
I’d volunteered for the Festival in 2007 as one of the people who set up the stages and food areas. I had a lot of fun, and it allowed me to feel more like I was really a part of the festival I attend every year. Unfortunately, my pesky hernia prevented me from volunteering last year, and I didn’t really want to do any heavy lifting this time around. Instead, I decided to push my own boundaries a bit: I volunteered for the public survey and for the legendary Bucket Brigade.
The public survey is an interesting gig. UMaine’s Center for Tourism Research and Outreach produces a 10-ish question survey that combines demographic and festival information. Volunteers from the festival (as well as CenTRO researchers) hit the crowd individually and find people to take the survey by doing nothing more scientific than asking people if they mind being surveyed. The process takes about 5-10 minutes, and the participant is entered to win a festival t-shirt. If they provide their email address for a follow-up survey, they’re entered to win one of six L.L. Bean gift certificates at the completion of the follow-up survey.
Those who know me well may be saying, “wait, Justin did that?” Although I don’t seem it from my presence online, I’m a pretty strong introvert in person. I have trouble joining conversations, and I can never go up to someone randomly and ask a question for fear of interrupting whatever they’re doing or of being denied. But yes, I signed up to be a surveyor, and I found that people were overwhelmingly receptive to going through the process with me. I met some great people of all ages and of all walks of life, and I was able to see a view of the festival that I had never seen before.
Unfortunately, by the end of my shift on Saturday morning, I was so soaked by the remnant rains of Hurricane Danny that I decided to call it a day and go home. Over the course of the festival I put my body through a lot – too much, really – and I’m still somewhat sore from the weekend.
For the past few years, the highlight of the festival for me has been the photographic opportunity it presents. There are tons of great shots just waiting to be taken there, and I love to see how many I can capture. I didn’t take as many photos this year, and I took even fewer photos of the artists than I’d expected. I’d taken some shots on Friday night (including some fun chances to capture some of my favorite UMaine dancers in the parade), but I scheduled Sunday as my best chance to take some good festival photos.
After doing the surveying, I’d decided to push myself just a little bit more and ask people attending if I could take their portrait. That limitation had been the one thing I’d always thought held me back from being the best photographer I could be; I’ve passed up a lot of opportunities because I was too shy or apprehensive to ask if I could take a picture. The surveying changed everything. On Sunday it was easy for me to go up to someone and ask if I could take a portrait, and to my surprise nobody I asked refused. I ended up with some photos that make me quite happy, and the knowledge that I’d grown as a photographer pleased me as well.
(After the festival I received some wonderful compliments about my photography by both old and new friends. I’ve never been able to accept compliments well, but I really do appreciate everything that people say about my work. I’m so glad that people enjoy it.)
For the final hours of the festival, I’d signed up to be part of the Bucket Brigade, the volunteer force that goes around the crowd with buckets asking for donations. This was the highlight of my weekend. The generosity of the people there was overwhelming for me, especially considering the economic situation we’ve experienced lately. As people dropped $1’s, $5’s, $20’s, and checks into my bucket, I smiled and thanked them for coming to the festival. It was incredibly rewarding to watch everyone – everyone – there contribute to the festival’s success, from toddlers in strollers with money from their parents to elderly people determined to move their trembling hands close enough to put a couple of bills in the bucket’s hole.
As I swam against the current of the sea of people walking on Front Street, I noticed the rainbow of blue, yellow, orange, and purple “I kicked in!” stickers dabbling almost every shirt I passed. Over the last few years I’ve had the opportunity to attend the festival, donate to it, volunteer for it, take photos of it, create websites for it, work for a sponsor company of it, and sing its praises anywhere I can. This weekend I realized for the first time that this festival really is about much, much more than just the music that graces the Bangor waterfront each year.