Angie Frame stood under a tree near the Genworth Foundation Family Area, with several family members and friends sprawled on a nearby blanket.

"I had no idea it was going to be this big," the first-time folk festival attendee from Powhatan County said, her eyes widening.

For those who never attended the past three years of the National Folk Festival, yesterday's second day of the inaugural Richmond Folk Festival -- the locally produced effort that mirrors its predecessor in every way -- was probably an overwhelming experience.

Venture Richmond, the organization that produced this free Richmond festival in conjunction with the National Council of the Traditional Arts, estimated yesterday's attendance at 85,000.

Lisa Sims, director of events for Venture Richmond, said the crowds were the most dense she's seen on the downtown riverfront site, even compared with last year's record-breaking three-day crowd of 175,000.

"Of course we have one more day to go," Sims said. "But we feel like we're really hitting it out of the park with the crowds. People understand it was not going to be a lesser festival."

Beth Bentley, another festival newcomer, said she's already decided to return next year.

"We got here about 11:30 [a.m.] and thought we might go home around 3 [p.m.]," she said. But now I think it will be 9 or 10. And maybe we'll be here tomorrow!"

Along the way, the Goochland County resident watched her 17-year-old daughter, Lara, receive belly-dancing lessons on the Parawing platform in the Genworth Foundation Family Area.

"There's something here for everyone. Even the bus ride was great," continued Bentley, who took advantage of the free shuttle service from The Diamond. A second pickup area is at Beaufont Center across from Cloverleaf Mall.

By midafternoon, the gathering at Brown's Island, the location of two of the seven music stages, resembled a theme park crowd. Lines at food vendors ran into the double digits, with those at Cherry Hill Ice Cream and Richmond's Chef Ma-Musu particularly lengthy all day.

On the fringe of the Richmond Times-Dispatch Dance Pavilion, Jaynell McFarlane of Richmond bobbed her head to the funky rhythms of Washington D.C.'s lively go-go band E.U. She said that after attending last year's festival, she vowed that she would come back every year.

"All the people coming together and experiencing the different things, the food -- even though some of it is kind of expensive -- doing things I wouldn't get to do otherwise and the beautiful weather -- that's why I'm here," she said.

No doubt yesterday's sunny skies and mid-70s temperatures encouraged more people to check out the 10-plus hours of music, food and crafts. A similar forecast is set for today.

. . .

On the Family Stage at the Genworth Foundation Family Area, Drums No Guns, the Richmond performing-arts organization that promotes youth nonviolence, brought about a dozen children to the front of the stage to shake maracas and assist with the act's multiple layers of percussion.

The group ended their set with the message, "Children of the sun, the time has come, to make the world better by doing it together."

Drums No Guns performs on the same stage at 1:15 p.m. today.

. . .

One beleaguered security guard on the children's site said his biggest task all day was keeping the kids from putting paper bags over the head of President Abraham Lincoln in the courtyard of the American Civil War Center.

The activities area allowed children to transform paper bags into "river hats."

. . .

Nukariik, the Inuit throat singers from Canada, perform at 3 p.m. today on the Comcast stage. It will likely serve as a better spot than yesterday's afternoon location at the Dominion stage, right under the train tracks near Tredegar Iron Works.

The sisters' form of throat singing sounds like a rapid succession of breathing or whispering -- not the loudest style of music. A passing CSX train blowing its whistle emphasized the unfortunate choice of location.

. . .

Bob Zentz handed out harmonicas and gave a little lesson to children at the Genworth Foundation Family Area.

High notes are on the right and low notes are on the left, he said.

Watching them follow his directions, he added: "You can do it two ways, you can move your neck or move the harmonica. For those of us over 50, it's easier to move the harmonica."

. . .

Following Zentz was belly dancer Nadira Lampert, who said the "earthy village dance" was introduced to Americans at the Chicago World's Fair in 1892 by an Egyptian dance group.

Since most American women wore corsets at the time, people were impressed by the freedom of movement in the midsection and called it "belly dancing."

When she asked children where the dance came from, she wasn't surprised that the first answer was Egypt. The next answer came out of the blue.

"Pizza Hut," a little voice volunteered. When everyone had stopped laughing, she asked if there were "any other countries other than multinational corporations."

. . .

In the Crafts Marketplace, Larry Counts of Cleveland, Va., was running out of the homemade brooms he's been producing for 43 years.

He wasn't making brooms at the festival this year, so when the supply ended he'd just be taking orders.

Genni Sasnett and Tom Wilds, who split their time between Richmond and Washington, didn't want to wait. They'd bought a little broom from him last year at the National Folk Festival.

"I use it all the time," she said.

This year, she walked away with a full-size broom for $20.

"The handle feels great," she said. "I think I'll use it, as long as he keeps coming back."

. . .

Kayakers can come to the festival, but they can't get in unless they're wearing shoes.

At least that's what a festival worker told Dan Roller, a Virginia Commonwealth University dental student, when Roller strolled across the bridge to Brown's Island wearing a kayak skirt but no shoes.

He and a buddy, Patrick Griffin, had put in their kayaks at Reedy Creek.

"We came down to hang out," he said. "We paddle by here all the time."

He wasn't too worried about the turn-away. There were plenty of other stages where no one was watching the feet.
Contact Melissa Ruggieri at (804) 649-6120 or mruggieri@timesdispatch.com.

Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or kcalos@timesdispatch.com.