As the stage is set, some recall moments from which memories have been made

By ANNABEL GIRARD
Staff Writer

Memories are made of this: music, children playing, a military uniform, an on-stage performance and a broken ankle, to name a few.
For Tom Poland, he's just glad to finally get a chance to tell his side about his most memorable moment, when he had his 15 minutes of fame.
It was the 1994 Great American Brass Band Festival, the year nationally recognized tuba player Sam Pilafian participated in the filming of a KET special about the festival.
Poland, playing his tuba with some of the world's greatest tuba players, was briefly featured in the program with Pilafian identifying him as "an impostor."
"It's time to set the record straight," Poland said.
Poland didn't just grab his tuba centerpiece from the picnic table in a moment of euphoria about the festival and bound on stage to join the other musicians. 
And it wasn't just a prop. He could play a few notes.
It all began on his 40th birthday when his wife gave him a tuba. That was the October 1993. Poland started learning how to play, relying on some members of The Advocate Brass Band for instruction.
The day of the 1994 band festival, next-door neighbor and Advocate band member J.P. Brantley told him there would be an "open play" for tubas at one point in the program and suggested Poland bring his tuba and join in.
"I'm not sure George even knew about it." (George is George Foreman, festival organizer and director of the Advocate band.)
Poland expressed some hesitancy but Brantley told him not to worry and to pantomime if he didn't know the notes. "He said pantomime is the greatest form of art."
The Saturday night picnic came. "I had on the proper attire. I was ready," Poland said.
Up he went on the stage and fit in pretty well with the group of musicians. Who from out of town would know he wasn't as noted a tuba player as the others?
"It was my first public appearance. I had only played before the dogs in the living room," the local banker said.
Crit Luallen, secretary of Gov. Paul Patton's cabinet, has attended the festival several times, especially when she was the state's secretary of Tourism. Her memories are of the overall feeling.
"It's not so much a specific event. ... I have very fond memories of the whole atmosphere of the Brass Band Festival," Luallen said.
She mentioned families picnicking on the lawn and little children playing while the music floats overhead. "It brings into focus all that is unique about small town Kentucky life." 
Danville is not an unfamiliar place to Luallen, a graduate of Centre College.
"The wonderful artistic offerings with the incredible warmth and hospitality of Danville, showcases all that is best about Kentucky."
In retrospect, 6th District Congressman Ernie Fletcher sees the staging of the band festival as preparation for the 2000 vice-presidential debate.
"Not only does the festival reflect the cultural sophistication of the community, it prepared the community for a superb job of hosting other national events such as the vice presidential debates," Fletcher said. "I know of no other community the size of Danville that can toot their horn like this."
Mary Jo Coomer said she certainly couldn't describe her most memorable moment as a happy one. "It was the first festival and I went in a wheelchair. I had just broken my ankle the first of June. ... It was beastly hot."
She and family members were also at a picnic table. With her mobility limited to a wheelchair, Coomer just remembers being stuck in one spot with little space to maneuver from 6 to 10 p.m. 
While everyone else was standing up and checking out the crowd and festive tables, Coomer sat.
"I vowed I'd never be at a table again."
It's a vow she's kept, but she has managed to accumulate pleasant memories from the other 12 years. "We sit up on the hill," where there is usually a breeze no matter how hot the weather.
Family members and in-laws are always part of the gathering. There's space for grandchildren to play. She sees a high school friend from Lebanon whose husband played the trumpet in the University of Kentucky's old Marching 100 band. "They always sit up front."
For her now grown children, "It's kind of a reunion with their high school friends who come back, too."
While the first year may have gotten off on a bad foot for Mrs. Coomer, life is good now. "We really enjoy it."
Heat also sticks in the mind of John Caywood. He and his wife, Martha, have put together a variety of theme picnic tables with friends during the years of the festival.
Finding a uniform for a military theme turned out to be more special than just borrowing the uniform. The search took him to the home of Claude Phillippe, who had the needed clothing. Caywood also got a surprise.
As they talked, Caywood learned he and Phillippe attended the same Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga., Phillippe in World War II and Caywood during the Vietnam War.
"I took a lot of pride in wearing that uniform. ... I do not regret the wool in the summer heat. It was truly an honor."
Mrs. Caywood said her favorite memories are of tracking down the items needed for various themes. After the table partners searched their and their friends' attics and closets, Mrs. Caywood was left to fill in the gaps.
One year, a jockey theme was selected. By hook and crook and a rental agency, jockey outfits were found. Now it was time to find a horse for the table centerpiece.
Mrs. Caywood had seen an iron carousel horse, but it sold before she settled on it. "I tracked it through four counties and two states before locating it in Mount Vernon."
The horse wasn't for loan now. "It went from free to $1,500," she said.
A concrete horse in a yard was ruled out for fear the table couldn't hold it.
Then she saw a cut-out of a horse in an office. It was just what she wanted and 
off she went to Lexington armed with a large piece of brown paper, determined to get the outline even without permission. Common sense prevailed and she checked with a women in the office where the cut-out was. It turned out the woman already had a pattern.
Boyle Lumber cut out the wood, a local artist did the painting and the horse graced the picnic table. 
Not so graceful were the men in the party. A concrete jockey owned by the Caywoods enjoyed the evening on the ground at one end of the picnic table. 
When it came time to return everything, the jockey came to a bad end. He was dropped and an arm broken.
But it all ended on a good note. The arm was repaired, new paint was applied and he was as good as new.
Good notes are the thrust of the festival. So on a personal note, my favorite moment is tied to "What a Wonderful World" performed by Olympia Brass Band with the now deceased Milton Batiste doing the vocals.
While the song is a perennial favorite, this one particular year, the weather was perfect. There was no rain; it wasn't too hot; a gentle breeze was blowing; and there was a full moon overhead.
Life was good.