BANGOR (AP) – A three-day celebration of music, arts and tradition that has become an end-of-summer fixture along the Bangor Waterfront got under way Friday evening.

The American Folk Festival, now in its second year, is a spinoff of the National Folk Festival that set up shop in Bangor from 2002 to 2004.

This year’s lineup of performances ranges from African music to bluegrass and includes throat singers from the Tuvan Republic, located between Mongolia and Siberia.

The festival, which has no admission fee, has drawn bigger crowds each year. Attendance in 2002 was estimated at 110,000 and has grown to about 145,000 last year.

Three full-time staff members work throughout the year to plan the festival, which draws on 750 volunteers to help out this weekend.