The party is coming back to the Old Port this summer.

The Resurgam Music and Arts Festival will be held along Portland’s eastern waterfront Sunday, after the inaugural edition of the event was held last June on Thompson’s Point on the Fore River.

The festival’s organizers, the Portland-based Maine Academy of Modern Music (MAMM), decided to move Resurgam to the city’s historic waterfront to help fill the void left when the Old Port Festival ended in 2019. That festival had been an annual summer kick-off event – and a showcase for local musicians, artists and artisans – since 1973.

“The main reason we wanted to move Resurgam is to bring the party back to the Old Port,” said Jeff Shaw, founder and executive director of MAMM. “It lowers the barrier for people being able to get to the festival, and it showcases this neighborhood.”

The first Resurgam festival was held last year away from downtown and the city’s waterfront, with fees for parking on site, which made it tough for some people to get to and cut down on foot-traffic, Shaw said. Though on-street parking is not necessarily easy to find in Portland, it is free on Sundays. The festival site is also located along the Eastern Promenade Trail, allowing access to pedestrians and bikers.

Portland’s waterfront near the Ocean Gateway terminal will be the site of the second Resurgam Festival. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Resurgam will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday on and around the Ocean Gateway pier and marine terminal off Thames Street, on the fringe of the historic Old Port. It will feature more than 60 performances of music and dance on five stages, as well as a Maker’s Mall for local businesses to sell crafts and goods, food trucks, beer gardens, and a children’s arts area. Admission is free.

The performance schedule is heavy on local artists. Besides the many MAMM students, groups and faculty who will play, the various stages will include a variety of well-known and up-and-coming Maine acts. The genres range from pop and rock to jazz and bluegrass.

Some of the performers include Pete Kilpatrick Band, Darlin’ Corey, John Hughes Radio, Muddy Ruckus, Angelikah Fahray, Rigometrics, Primrose, Taiko Maine Dojo and Primo Cubano. For a full schedule of performances, go to resurgamfestival.com.

For artists, Resurgam is a chance to play a free show for Mainers and possibly attract new future fans. The Old Port Festival had served that purpose too, but its main mission had been to attract people to the Old Port. By 2019, that mission had been accomplished, and the Old Port had become a nationally known tourist destination. So organizers decided to end the annual event.

“I know that people said the Old Port Festival had accomplished its mission, but when it ended we lost this great way to introduce people to the arts and to new bands,” said Pete Kilpatrick, a Brunswick-based singer songwriter who played the Old Port Festival several times over the years. “Portland is much more on the map now, and people come from all over. But they may not know what a great music and arts scene we have, and this festival will help with that.”

Hula hoop artist Nettie Gentempo performs during the Resurgam Music and Arts Festival last June. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

The festival’s name comes from the Portland city motto, adopted in 1832, which means “I shall rise again” in Latin. The city has risen from the ashes, literally, more than once – after being bombarded by the British Navy in 1775 and after a devastating fire in 1866. When announcing the new festival in early 2022, Shaw said he thought “resurgam” would hold special meaning at that moment, as everyone looked forward to getting back to a more normal daily life after more than two years of COVID, including by celebrating arts and culture together.

The event is also being used by MAMM to highlight the music school’s newest location, at 144 Fore St. The 3,500-square-foot space is currently under renovation but will be open for lessons and rehearsals in the fall, Shaw said. The school also has a location on Presumpscot Street in Portland but had to close down a location on Casco Street downtown during the pandemic. The MAMM stage, where the school’s students and groups will perform, will be located in front of the new space during the festival.

MAMM students, who often form rock groups with other students under the supervision of faculty, had performed for years at the Old Port Festival. Now because of Resurgam, many young musicians are getting a chance to play to big crowds. The number of kids in MAMM programs statewide continues to grow and is up to about 2,000 compared to 1,500 before the pandemic, Shaw said.

Giana Goodell, 14, went to Resurgam last year on Thompson’s Point because she was interested in possibly enrolling in MAMM and joining a band. This year Giana – a singer – will be performing at Resurgam on the MAMM stage as part of the band Temporarily Out of Order.

“I know, for me, being at MAMM is a huge part of my life, being able to surround myself with people who have the same love of music as me,” said Giana, who lives in Old Orchard Beach. “This will be the first really big event we get to do.”

The Amethyst Lot Park near Ocean Gateway is one of several sites hosting the Resurgam Festival on Portland’s waterfront Sunday. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Resurgam will kick off Sunday with a parade led by the towering and colorful puppets of Portland’s Shoestring Theatre, just as the Old Port Festival did. The parade will begin between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m at the corner of India and Thames streets, then run down Thames, turn left on Hancock Street and turn right before ending at the MAMM stage at 144 Fore St. The parade will also feature bands and other performers and will probably last about 15 minutes.

Most of the performances and activities will be outside, include in the parking lot and queuing lanes of Ocean Gateway, a city building which serves as a cruise ship terminal and is rented out for events. Some performances will be nearby at the Visit Portland information center and on city-owned waterfront park space. There will be a children’s activity area inside the Visit  Portland center.

While organized by MAMM, the festival’s main sponsor is the Otto Pizza restaurants. Bissell Brothers Brewing is making a special beer, Summer Rise, to benefit MAMM. MAMM is also partnering with the city of Portland on the event.

Though the Old Port already draws crowds, holding a music and arts event like Resurgam there will help show people there’s more to the city than nationally acclaimed restaurants.

“A lot of people come to vacation here but don’t necessarily realize how amazing and talented our youth are. The arts and culture scene in Portland is sort of secret to some,”  said Lynn Tillotson, president and CEO of the tourist promotion organization Visit Portland.

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