View across Boarding House Park during the 5 o’clock hour Saturday for  Maggie Ingram and the Ingrametts – a Gospel group that had the audience on its feet, swaying, clapping and perhaps shouting a few hallelujahs … the smoke overlay was nothing religious… it rose up from the large grills at the food tents where all kinds of scrumptious foods were being grilled and prepped for the hordes of festival goers waiting patiently in long lines…

My view out the front door of the Mogan CC Saturday  afternoon at the Lowell Folk Festival…

Over the years as a Lowell Folk Festival volunteer, I’ve had many jobs. Most often though because I don’t do heat and sun very well I’ve been indoors! One year very early on – I worked the door at the EB lobby… I’ve been ” inside” checking-in volunteers, handling out volunteer t-shirts, making sure assignments are covered… for a few years I was located at the Old Fannie Farmers at John Street then moved across the street to the Career Center…I had a window on the folk festival traffic and the John Street Stage… Yesterday the job site was in the “lobby” of the Mogan Cultural Center. What I noticed… lots of young people excited to join the “green team” in the recycling effort so important to the Lowell Folk Festival… they were Lowell High Gear-up students…  church youth  groups… an Andover youth service group, a “Maine Science Center” affiliated group from Newburyport… a family group like the Hogans from Lowell… and kids from the “Y”…  joining the “bucket brigade” were bank-connected leaders, employees, their families and other  youth groups fanning out into the crowd seeking those much-needed donations… the festival goers flocked to the ethnic food tents across the way – the Filipino, the Greek, the Jamaican/Indian,  the Middle Eastern… festival-goer attire was a mixed-bag of seasonal style – long shorts, short shorts, jeans, pajama pants, khaki shorts, khaki pants, gym shorts, cargo shorts (no men’s capri pants were sighted)… they wore flip-flops, sneakers, sandals, work boots, hiking boots, soft boots, black leather knee-high boots, athletic shoes of all brands and styles, slip-ons, socks, no-socks, exotic socks…  they donned baseball caps, wide-brimmed straw hats, safari hats, SPF sun hats, visors, pork-pie hats even umbrella hats… they carried folding chairs, camp stools, backpacks, blankets, babies in a sling…  dogs of all breeds and sizes on leashes, kids in strollers and by the hand, far too many were on cell phones some even stepped into our lobby to converse, they had cameras, beards, ponytails, bald heads, canes, walkers, wheel chairs, bandanas, pouches, water bottles and a few walked their bikes… Dotted about – park rangers in uniform, Middlesex Sheriff guys on bikes, EMTs, and as a sign of our times – a group of vested, side-armed NPS security guys, volunteers in orange shirts, green shirts and gold shirts… longtime festival-goers proudly wore vintage, now collectible t-shirt from the past 25+ years… the sounds of music, the smell of food, the din of the moving crowd, the color and diversity… all passed by my window at the 2013 Lowell Folk Festival. Thoughts of next year…