Vans loaded with bands descend on the town

By ANN R. HARNEY
Staff Writer

The Great American Brass Band Festival at Centre College obviously means bands. What's not obvious is how those bands get to Danville or even after they arrive here, how they get from the places they are staying to the band stands.

Just like much of the work that gets done before, during and after the festival, transporting bands is done by volunteers.

Greg Caudill, a member of the festival committee, is the person responsible for lining up people to drive the bands that don't provide their own transportation. And Caudill said Debbie Hoskins at Centre is the person who lines up reservations for incoming bands. It is she who provides Caudill with a schedule.

Caudill gets the drivers, but what do they drive?

``We are lucky in that local car dealers in Danville and (one) in Harrodsburg loan us vans for the festival,'' Caudill said. He said Stuart Powell Ford, Bob Allen Motor Mall, Wade Motors and Tom Owens Chevrolet here and Spirit Chevrolet-Buick in Harrodsburg each provides at least one van to the festival at no charge.

Caudill said between eight and 10 people drive the vans to the airports in Lexington and Louisville to either pick up or return bands. Harold McKinney has provided transportation for bands in each of the festival's eight years and every year it has been the same band, Caudill said.

``I've always transported the Olympia Brass Band,'' McKinney said recently. ``I think I've transported them every year in one direction or another. I typically deliver them to wherever they're staying.''

McKinney said the New Orleans band now brings so much equipment to the festival that it now takes two vans to get them from the airport to their motel. They're a lot of fun, McKinney said.

``They're nice folks and they're very interesting people. They remember people from Danville; a couple of them ask me about (daughter) Hillary. I wouldn't expect them to do this. I'm always struck by the fact that they seem to enjoy their visits to Danville. It's not just another stop.''

Caudill said that most bands arrive for the festival in the evening Friday, but Olympia usually gets here sooner.

``They're always here during the day Friday. In some years they've gotten here on Thursday,'' Caudill said. He said the band seems to enjoy all facets of the festival, but members, who always play at the balloon race, seem to enjoy that event most.

``I really think those guys would pay to come here for the balloon race.''

Once bands are in town, other volunteers pick up the responsibility of getting them from their motels to the festival sites. Those drivers include John Albright, Jim Rankin, Bruce Nichols and Caudill. There usually is a van and driver standing by in case a band needs transportation from the sites, although Caudill said bands usually let the committee know in advance when they'll need transportation.

``In rare occasions, we leave a vehicle with the bands,'' Caudill said. The committee may not need as many drivers as the years go along.

``More and more bands are providing their own transportation,'' Caudill said of bands that sometimes drive here in buses or vans from their homes, especially those who live close enough. ``In some cases, they'll fly to the airport and rent their own vehicle.''

Even with all the planning Hoskins and Caudill do, it never goes just like clockwork. ``It never fails that somebody will miss a plane and we'll have to impose on somebody at the last minute to go to the airport and pick up somebody,'' Caudill said.