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A Memorial Day weekend tradition of folk singing and picnicking is set to fire up at Bangor Village Park once again this Sunday. As always, there will be no charge for admission, although donations for beer and pop will be accepted.

“Basically, it’s a bunch of musicians getting together for fun — the first one was held on my porch,” said John McCue, event organizer.

The music will begin at 2 p.m. and last until 10 p.m. Performers will include 81-year-old Larry Penn, Eddie Allen, Guthrie Allen, Tommy and Dominic Orrico, Captain Dingo and possibly a few others.

“This year we’ve also got food by Max’s Chicken with fixin’s — it’s reasonable and good,” McCue said.

“We usually break even or lose a few bucks — the community has been really good to us,” McCue said.

In the past, the Hootenanny has donated to Bangor youth soccer, Parkinson’s research, the Bangor Booster Club and Operation Homefront. This year money will be donated to a future Bangor softball complex, the First Responders building fund and Special Olympics.

Community service hours also will be available for Bangor High School students who need the hours for graduation. McCue, a former “King of the Hobos,” said another Hootenanny tradition, the Good Guy award, also will be handed out.

“It’s an award for doing things without being asked and even though the name is ‘good guy’ we alternate between male and female winners,” McCue said.

The Hootenanny is sponsored by Veterans Opposed to War. McCue said he notified the Associated Press and filmmaker Michael Moore that he would publicly burn his economic stimulus check in protest of the Iraq war if any major news organizations showed up to cover the event. “If that doesn’t happen, I’ll just donate the money to VOW,” he said.