NEW GLOUCESTER – Undaunted by rain that gave way to sunshine on Sunday, loyal fans of bluegrass music and newcomers flocked to Thompson’s Apple Orchard to savor the family-style music festival.

Bands from Maine, Tennessee, New Hampshire, Missouri and Connecticut played a mix of old-time music, bluegrass and gospel offerings from Friday evening until midafternoon Sunday.

Brothers Mike and Brian Thompson and their mother, Donna Thompson, said the orchard’s open fields, high on the hillside with a view to the east, proved a perfect setting for the festival. The weekend event was the culmination of three years of planning.

“Three years ago I got the idea after attending several bluegrass festivals and it sounded like it would be a neat thing for us. We had the perfect place and so we spent the last year with several dozen helpers working to provide the perfect setting,” Mike Thompson said.

Although the weather deterred attendance this year, the Thompsons said the festival will be held next year and that bands are already booked.

Brian Thompson talked about the challenge of keeping a working farm solvent. “Keeping farmland free from development means finding unusual ways to bring profit to land ownership facing high taxes.

“This is good for the community for a town with rural farming roots. I’d like to see the town support something out of the normal – something like this,” Brian Thompson said.

Most of New Gloucester’s working farms have ceased production, and development pressure and growth worry local planners.

Two people who helped to organize the event for the Thompsons were Greg and Sandy Cormier of Sidney, members of the band Blistered Fingers. The Cormiers run two festivals annually on their land.

Maine has a strong bluegrass tradition, says Sandy Cormier. Blistered Fingers has scheduled more than 20 appearances this summer in Maine and other venues in New England. The Brunswick-based Bluegrass Music Association of Maine, organized in 1996, boasts 350 active members who educate the public about the music, its history and cultural heritage.

Fiddle, guitar, mandolin, banjo and bass and sometimes dobro are played acoustically, and close vocal harmonies and individual instrument breaks are used to enhance the melodies or tunes.

Old-time music is traditional music handed down through generations. Its originated in the Appalachian and Ozark Mountains and carries Celtic and African-American musical influences.

More than 60 recreational vehicles made a lower field home for the three days, as festival-goers joined friends and musicians jammed.

Oren Whitney, 88, of Gray, sat huddled beneath a thick woolen blanket Saturday night with his wife, Edna, sharing the warmth. The couple say they love to listen to old-time music and bluegrass. In their younger days the couple went to venues in their travel-trailer. Now that’s too hard, and they eagerly made the trek to New Gloucester by car.