By James Straub

Jeff Salzmann has been working since last November to organizer the first-ever Flye Point Music and Arts Festival on June 26. Staff photo by James Straub

No tickets will be sold at the gate, and non-ticket holders will be turned away before reaching the festival grounds.

Jeff Salzmann has been working overtime since last November to organize the festival at the Lookout Inn on Flye Point.

Expected to be an annual event, this year’s festival features seven musical acts, including Judy Collins, Odetta, David Mallett, The Mammals, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Ballykelty and Jennifer Armatrong.

The ticket policy is one of several policies adopted to ensure a safe and sufficiently run festival.

In response to residents’ concerns, which were solicited by organizers last November, the festival will limit attendance to 4,000.

Salzmann said last week that about 2,000 tickets have been issued.

Tickets are available at local retail outlets, including the Brooklin General Store, Oven Works in Blue Hill, Border’s Books in Bangor, The Grasshopper Shop in Ellsworth and Mainescape in Blue Hill.

Tickets are also available on the Web at fpmusicfest.com.

Though he has put in more than 40 hours every week since last November, Salzmann already has enjoyed some reward for his labor.

“The best part of this work is to take an idea and let it take on a life of its own,” Salzmann said. “Now, this festival has its own life.”

A big part of the festival’s “life” reflects its host community.

“The way the community has come together to make sure it works, it’s really become Brooklin’s festival,” Salzmann said.

More than 100 local residents have volunteered to help at the festival, as well as cleaning the area after the event.

Residents, too, have helped shaped the festival.

“We got a lot of good, constructive criticism that definitely helped in the organization,” Salzmann said. “By addressing their concerns, it helped minimize the impact the festival might have on the community.”

Salzmann may have been blessed with volunteers and an abundance of good advice, but organizing the intimate details of the festival fell mostly to him.

“It’s important to take care of things early,” he said, adding that good preparation makes it easier to deal with last-minute changes.

Members of Judy Collins’ entourage will be arriving at four different times. Providing for their arrival is not something to be put off to the last minute, Salzmann said.

As the festival date nears, some changes and challenges fired at Salzmann have come packaged in excitement.

“The acts themselves are getting excited about the festival,” Salzmann said. “They are impressed by other acts.”

As the excitement for performing at the festival mounts, three acts have increased their personnel.

The Mammals have gone from a three-piece to a five-piece band. Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion have added two musicians to present a four-piece band, and David Mallett has added a fiddle player to present a three-piece act.

“We’ve had to do a little scrambling to find accommodations,” Salzmann said. “It’s exciting to us that they are excited about the show; it will just make it better.”

Again, Salzmann found help in the community.

“People in town have offered to put people up,” he said. “Someone offered the use of an RV as an extra dressing room. People come up every day and ask what can they do to help.

“The coolest thing about putting this together is watching the whole town come together.”

Sometimes Salzmann is on his own, however.

For instance, when the festival was first announced, Richie Havens was listed as a tentative performer.

Salzmann said Havens was definitely interested but could not commit to the date because he was waiting to hear about a concert in England being organized by friends.

In March, Salzmann needed a commitment from his second billing, and Havens was still unsure about the England date.

Salzmann contacted Odetta. The 72-year-old blues legend now names her venues and generally performs only in areas she likes, according to Salzmann.

But the Maine coast has fit that bill since Odetta appeared at the Left Bank Café in Blue Hill several years ago.

She committed to appear at the festival, and the following day, Havens called to say the England show falls on a different date and he could be at Flye Point.

He was too late to make this year’s lineup, but Salzmann said Havens most likely would play the second annual Flye Point Music and Arts Festival.

Butch Smith, owner of the Lookout Inn, has helped make the festival a community event by providing local organizations opportunities to raise funds.

The Fire Department, which has volunteered to oversee festival parking, will benefit from a raffle drawing for four pairs of festival tickets.

Also a 50-50 raffle to benefit the Fire Department will be held during the festival, as well as a “boot drive” conducted along the festival route.

Smith has donated booth space to the First Baptist Church of Brooklin, which will have the exclusive hot dog concession at the festival.

The First Baptist Church plans to host a Christian rock performance by “Ignition” at the church the night before the Flye Point Festival. The free concert starts at 7 p.m.

The Brooklin Keeping Society has been awarded the artists’ CD and tape sales concession. The performing artists have donated 10 percent of their sales to the Keeping Society.

The Keeping Society also will sell baked goods at the festival.

The Bay School in Blue Hill has been given the use of an on-site gazebo, which will serve as a children’s area.

Throughout the day, Jennifer Armstrong and Susan Silver of Ballykelty will be at the area helping children make instruments.

Armstrong, Silver and other performers will lead children as they play their homemade instruments in a parade through the festival grounds.

The Marine Environmental Research Institute of Blue Hill is another of several area organizations to be given space at the festival to be used for fund-raising activities.

“He really wanted to make it a community event, and it’s been exciting watching it become that,” Salzmann said of Smith’s decision to donate space at the festival.

Eighteen area artists also will display their work in a large tent. The arts range from Native American arts to oil paintings, from hand-woven fabrics to hand-blown glass.