By late July, the blueberry barrens surrounding Whitneyville hum with activity. This year, however, the noise consisted of much more than the chat of rakers and the drone of enthused bees. The first Downeast Country Fest was held on July 24 at the Whitneyville fairgrounds. Bands from as far as Los Angeles and as near as Jonesport drew three hundred music fans to the first local country-music festival.
The goal, wrote Caleb Paul, the event’s organizer, was to “enable residents of Downeast Maine to attend a world-class event.”
The festival featured an impressive lineup, including Michael Peterson and the Johnny Hiland Band. Peterson has had multiple #1 hits on the charts in the United States and Europe. In 1997, Billboard named him male artist of the year. Born in the Washington County community of Woodland, Hiland has recorded with Toby Keith, Ricky Skaggs and Randy Travis. He’s even been called “Maine’s own guitar legend.”
In an effort to support regional artists, more than half of the performers had Maine ties. John Paul, FishWhistle, Travis James Humphrey, and the Stillwaters Band all brought local talent to the Country Fest. The Whiskey Project from New York and Chasing Blue from the Berkeley School of Music rounded out the performers. One of the acts, Hal Ketchum, contracted a serious illness in the weeks prior to the event and was unable to perform.
But the first year of the festival generated very poor ticket sales. Paul had high hopes for the festival in its first year due to the talent he was able to line up. However, ticket sales did not match his expectations. According to one festival attendee, Ellsworth resident Richard Small, almost everyone he saw in attendance at the festival was a local.
“Attendance could have been better, but those that went to the Downeast Country Fest had an absolute blast,” said Paul Duggan, a Milbridge resident who attended the festival.
The original idea of a music festival for Washington County began taking shape years ago. Raised in Addison, Paul wanted to create an event for the community that could become a Downeast tradition. In June of 2009 he set up a Facebook group, “Down East Country Fest 2010!!,” to gauge interest in the event. Once he determined that there was enough interest to make the event viable, the real planning began. However, despite strong activity on the facebook page, only a fraction of the 3,000 fans actually attended the event.
Since most of the people at the event were local residents, the festival’s impact on the economy was limited. While the Machias Motor Inn and Bluebird Motel near the festival site were full that weekend, they did not cite the Country Fest as the reason. Local restaurants have had a busy summer, but restaurant managers reported that the weekend of the Country Fest was no different from any other.
There’s a steep learning curve when planning an event, said Sunrise County Economic Council Executive Director Harold Clossey. “Things like these are difficult to get started, but if there are good events people will return,” Clossey said.
Because of the low turnout, the festival was a net loss, and Paul will not be using the same business model next year. The festival can only be staged again if music fans and local businesses become sponsors, he said.
Despite the financial uncertainty, Paul is already busy with plans for next year’s festival.
Allison Talbot lives in East Machias and is a participant in the The Working Waterfront’s student writers program. She will be attending St. Lawrence University in the fall.