The ever-popular "Nawlins"-based group Olympia Brass Band returns for its 13th appearance at the festival. Expect to see the fringed umbrellas a la New Orleans cropping up in the crowd as Olympia Brass Band plays its soulful, sassy music.
The festival is one of the long list of occasions for which the band performs. It plays at banquets, parties, dances, grand openings, Mardi Gras parades and festivities and traditional New Orleans jazz funerals. The band regularly packs them in at the Preservation Hall concert series in New Orleans.
In addition to the traditional Dixieland jazz, its repertoire includes songs of a great variety of styles and periods: Blues, marches, Tin Bread Alley and spiritual. 
The origin of the present Olympia goes back to 1883: It was the first black brass band of New Orleans, founded following the pattern of the French military bands. In its beginnings, the main activity was to perform for funerals of members of black societies. 
To make sure the group's style of music continues, a group called the Young Olympians has been organized. 
The group spends at least four to five months a year traveling. They usually leave Danville for a European tour.
Richard Matthews has taken over the role of manager and grand marshal since his father, Milton Batiste Jr., died in 2001. "I'll be the guy with the umbrella," says Matthews, who notes that seven musicians will play at this year's festival.
The group also lost drummer Nowell Joseph "Papa" Glass in 2001, but Matthews says that Harold Dejan, who reorganized the band in 1960, and still is doing well at age 93. He sends his greetings, Matthews says.
"His favorite words are to tell everybody, "That everything is lovely."