Festival logistics chief looks back on seven years as a `blur'

By Herb Brock
Staff Writer

You're going to the 1997 Great American Brass Band Festival. You bring a camera along. You plan to take pictures of some of the prominent people who are involved in the event every year.

You take a shot of festival director George Foreman. You get the print and there he is: waving his baton at the Advocate Brass Band.

You take a picture of popular performer Vince DiMartino. The photo is developed and there he is: blowing his horn.

You take a photo of festival logistics chairman Jerry Boyd. You get the picture back and there he is: a blur.

While Foreman directs the festival and DiMartino is one of its stars, it's Boyd and his crew of volunteers who, since the annual summer event began in 1990, have worked behind the scenes to make sure all the little details are taken care of so the artists can perform and the crowd can enjoy them.

And those details include everything from setting up the stage and sound equipment and chairs and music stands at Centre College, Weisiger Park and the other performance sites in Danville to setting up the tables and chairs at the Saturday evening picnic to transporting bands to and from airports and motels.

Like a conductor leading an orchestra, Boyd directs all the different groups among his crew of volunteers with an eye toward bringing their individual efforts together into one, unified, efficient operation.

But unlike a conductor, Boyd doesn't use a baton. He uses his voice, golf cart and feet to dash from venue to venue. And the last thing he wants is for his ``orchestra'' to make any noise.

``The real secret in festival logistics is make sure that we are not noticed, that everything seems OK, that everything is going smoothly,'' says Boyd. ``If the public notices us, say, running onto a stage to shove a stand in front of a musician, then we haven't succeeded. If they can just sit on their blanket or lawn chair and enjoy the performance, we have succeeded.''

Boyd, whose day job is plant administrator at Sellers Engineering, admits it took a couple of years to uncover the secret for a glitch-free festival.

``I and five or six of the others (on the logistics committee) had worked for years doing the same thing at the Constitution Square Festival,'' says Boyd. ``We soon discovered that, while the Constitution Square event was important and involved a lot of work, this band festival was at a whole other level, involving a lot of professionals who had been at festivals all over the country and the world,'' he says.

``Our job was to try to get to that other level ourselves, to be as professional in our tasks as the musicians are in theirs,'' he adds. ``We made a few mistakes here and there in the first festival but, after it was over, we said to ourselves, `Man, we pulled this off.'''

Boyd and his crew of more than 100 volunteers have since been ``fine-tuning the details'' and have reached the point where the big jobs, like moving music equipment and tables and chairs, are now done almost by rote.

``The most important job we have is setting up tables and chairs for the Saturday evening picnic. We have only one hour in which to put in place 148 tables and 1,300 chairs and do so according to the order in which the tickets were bought,'' he says. ``Last year, we got the job done in 48 minutes.''

He says he and his crew now are ``into the small things, like making sure wipes are on the tables outside the portable johns and picking up a piece of trash here and there. It's (taking care of) the little things that makes a big event great.''

But there is one detail that is beyond the control of the logistics committee - the weather.

``The first few years, we planned and planned what we'd do in the event of rain,'' says Boyd. ``I remember one Saturday when the rain came down in such volume that the canvas shell over the stage at Centre was starting to collapse under the weight of the water. But we were prepared. We got some long poles and punched into the canvas at certain points to force the water off of it.

``But while we still keep in constant contact with the National Weather Service and relay to the crowd information about any approaching severe weather, we've decided to just let the festival go on, rain or shine.''

Boyd has made another important decision about the festival - it's time to start turning over the reins of the logistics chairmanship.

``I'll still be involved in the future but, starting this year, I'll be turning over more and more to (co-chairman) John Albright and the others that have been involved all along, like Greg Caudill and Jim Rankin,'' he says.

Boyd says he also will be stepping back a bit from other community organizations and events with which he has been involved over the years as he sets the stage for retirement next year from Sellers.

A former assistant principal, teacher and coach, Boyd has been involved in numerous groups in the community, from the Little League to the Chamber of Commerce to the Tourism Committee.

``I've been up the mountain. Now it's time to start back down and let others get involved. And I know there are plenty of community-minded people who are ready, willing and able to take my place.''

And Boyd is ready, willing and able to take his new place at the band festival - in a lawn chair.

If you take a camera to a festival a year or two from now and take a shot of Boyd, it will be in focus - no more blur.

``I'll be the one sitting still, relaxing and enjoying all the music,'' he says.

``And you know what's funny? When I decided to get involved with the festival, I didn't care much for brass music. I wouldn't have crossed the street from my home to listen to it,'' he adds.

``But now I have a couple of dozen tapes of brass band music. While I've rarely been able to sit down and listen to it during the festival, I would hear it while running around. Now I love the stuff,'' says Boyd.

``And I'm going to get the chance to hear it like all the other people do - in a chair with a big lemonade in one hand and an onion blossom in the other.''