Armenian Relief Society volunteers hand out Armenian food from their booth on Market Street during the Lowell Folk Festival July 27, 2024. (Peter Currier/Lowell Sun)
LOWELL — A little after 10 a.m. Saturday, the preparations for another day of the Lowell Folk Festival had begun with about two hours to go until the official start time of Day 2.
Stage techs could be heard setting up and checking the sound equipment for the second day’s musical acts, volunteers bustled around making sure everything was squared away and, most importantly, a faint, smoky haze loomed over Downtown Lowell as groups fired up their grills to start making another day’s worth of food from around the world.
The 12:15 p.m. start time for most of the festival’s events did not stop hungry attendees from waiting around the many food options in JFK Plaza, Market Street and Boarding House Park. It also didn’t stop some booths from calling people over to take their orders and start giving them food.
Carita Ramos of Fealma, a spiritist group in North Chelmsford, said the group has been serving Brazilian food at the Lowell Folk Festival for six years. After Day 1 and in the early hours of Day 2 Saturday, Ramos said there has been a clear favorite among their customers.
“The Brazilian hot dog has been the big thing,” said Ramos.
The cachorro-quente features an all-beef hot dog on a bun, topped with tomatoes, chopped onions, green and red peppers, corn and potato sticks, and it could be seen in the hands of many attendees all around JFK Plaza, where Fealma’s booth is located.
Down the street in the Boarding House Park section of the festival, Evan Seng and Joseph Kitchens, sporting a shirt depicting The Sun building in Downtown Lowell, stood in a long line in the hot sun for what seemed to be one of the most popular booths: Iskwelahang Pilipino, a Filipino cultural school in Bedford.
Seng said he had a family friend volunteering in IP’s booth, while Kitchens said he was trying to make up for last year, when he gave up on getting the group’s Filipino food because of the daunting sight of the line. One planned to get the pork combo, and the other the chicken combo, as well as a fried plantain.
“I was going to get this last year, but the line was just too long,” said Kitchens. “I’m here all day this year, so I figured I could wait in a longer line.”
Tricia and Jim Kanan sat in the middle of JFK Plaza to enjoy lamb skewers and spinach pies they got nearby from the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church booth. The two come to the Lowell Folk Festival every year, usually with the intent of getting either Greek or Thai food, or sometimes both.
“Although now I am considering the Jamaican and Indian food there,” said Jim, eyeing The Seed’s booth on the other side of the plaza.
Over on Market Street, Sossi Seknavorian mixed together a large batch of salad for the Armenian Relief Society’s booth. No one thing seemed to be selling out more than the other, Seknavorian said as festival attendees steadily came through to purchase their kebabs, Armenian meat pies and spinach pita, among other dishes.
She noted that while they all volunteered to run a booth at the festival, they still try to find ways to enjoy the festival beyond their tent.
“We always send out a volunteer to bring back food from other booths,” said Seknavorian. “Earlier we got some of the Laotian food.”
Near the Armenian booth was the Polish Cultural Committee booth, which was selling Polish classics like pierogis, kapusta, kielbasa and their famous rosettes. Happily getting into the back of a very long line for Polish food was Josh Plunkett, who said pierogis were a staple food of his household growing up. Though Polish food is a favorite, Plunkett has been to the festival three times, and he makes an effort to try new options when he goes.
“I had some of the Brazilian food last night. My favorite thing here is just trying the different foods,” said Plunkett.
Read More
