City of Bangor to Forgive Debt Owed by American Folk Festival

City councilors voted Monday night to forgive a debt of just over $100,000 owed to the city by the now-defunct American Folk Festival.

Organizers of the annual festival decided last month to pull the plug on the event. A sharp downturn in donations had caused problems for the three-day event that boasted free admission to see musical acts that required payment. When the decision was made to fold, the Folk Festival still owed $104,000 to the city of Bangor.

On Monday night, the decision was unanimous that the City Council would forgive the debt. WABI-TV reports councilors stated the economic growth of the waterfront, in part because of the American Folk Festival, and that the amount gained by the city through the annual event would be too great to quantify. The American Folk Festival evolved from the National Folk Festival, which first set up in Bangor in 2002.