Web site provides year-round entertainment

By Sheila Clark
Contributing Writer

Enjoy The Great American Brass Band Festival all year around via the festival's virtual homestead on the Internet at www.gabbf.com. 
This year, Web site has taken on a bit of an elegant flair to go with the festival's "Celebrate America" theme. 
The site was initially launched in 1996 by the Advocate to provide brass lovers with the most comprehensive Web site for the festival. 
Site visitors can expect a user-friendly atmosphere and easily obtainable information about this year's festival as well as events held in previous years. One click of the GABBF 2002 button will give a site visitor all the information about this year's festival right at their fingertips. 
Everything pertaining to this year's festival, from the schedule of events and festival articles to a printable order form, can easily be found there. 
The Web site is also host to the host band of the festival, The Advocate Brass Band. Visitors can easily access the ABB site by clicking on the Advocate Brass button. Their site features a nice bit of information on the band including their biography, discography, band personnel, articles, trips, a photo gallery, concerts and more. 
Other features on the GABBF site include:

* The Chautauqua Tea, a pre-festival event held the Thursday before the festival.
* Directions to Danville are accompanied by a venue map of the festival site.
* A photo gallery that features submitted photos of past festivals.
* The Conference section that spotlights band history conference information, the schedule and a printable registration form.
* Area Sights to See, which offers information about area historic sites.
* Featured Band, which spotlights randomly selected brass bands.
* The Bands section, featuring the current year's performers, background information and photos.
* Dine & Recline, serving up suggestions on things to see and do during festival downtime.
* GABBF Archives features things from past festivals including pins, posters, logos and Festival Guides.
* Brass Links, which offers links to brass-related Web sites. 
* Interact, which features an unmoderated IRC chat area on Talk City.
* GABBF On Tour section features information about GABBF on the road. 
* Museum offers information about a pending museum for the American band.
Also included on the site is information about the Great American Picnic. 

The site was designed by Sheila J. Clark, Internet columnist and electronic services coordinator for The Advocate-Messenger.