Fans brave weather for great music
By Herb Brock
Staff Writer
It's common meteorological knowledge that steady rain over a period of days brings mushrooms. But a very uncommon species of the plant was sprouting all over downtown Danville Saturday morning.
These particular mushrooms came in a profusion of colors
- burgundy, green, orange, purple, black and, of course, red,
white and blue. Look a little closer - through the steady
downpour - and you saw that they were actually umbrellas.
And under each one of them was a damp but undaunted person who either was attending, performing or working at the 1997 Great American Brass Band Festival. It was a dark and stormy day in Danville but that didn't seem to affect the festival goers who braved the elements.
There were about two dozen of these souls surrounding the gazebo bandstand at Weisiger Park where Saxton's Cornet Band kicked off their concert and the festival about 9 a.m. by playing ``Yankee Doodle Dandy'' with a spirit that belied the fact that the weather was anything but dandy.
``I've heard a lot about this festival but this is the first time I've come down here,'' said Bill Schrader of Bedford, Ind., standing under an orange and white umbrella and wearing around his neck a camera with a rain-splattered lens.
``The rain doesn't bother me. As long as I can still hear the music, that's all that matters to me,'' Schrader said.
Same sentiments from Brad Coulter of Junction City, carrying a multi-colored umbrella over a camouflage uniform.
``I wish it wouldn't rain but it really shouldn't hurt anything. We're trained to march in all kinds of weather,'' said Coulter, a member of the color guard from the Kentucky National Guard's Danville-based 103rd unit that took part in the festival parade later in the morning.
Helen Fisher Frye of Danville, under a red umbrella, served as emcee for the rain-soaked Saxton band - and enjoyed every moist moment of it.
``They played right on through the rain, and it did rain
hard,'' said Frye after the concert. ``And the people there
didn't seem to mind. People from Cincinnati, Indianapolis,
Louisville were there and they stayed there right through the
wet.''
Walking through the wet to the main festival stage at Centre College were several workers and festival goers, navigating around puddles on the streets and sidewalks on Main Street and mud along the sides of the newly reconstructed West Walnut Street.
Under a black umbrella was Marvin Suit of Flemingsburg, who was making his first appearance at the eight-year-old annual event at the coaxing of a veteran festival goer.
``I'd heard what a great event it is and decided it was time to come. Unfortunately, it looks like I may have brought the rain with me,'' said Suit, who came with his wife, Nancy, and their friends and coaxers, Glen and Mary Ann McCormack, also of Flemingsburg.
``I have Holtzclaw and Rankin family roots in this area and look on this festival as kind of a reunion for me,'' said McCormack under a University of Kentucky Wildcat blue and white umbrella. ``I'm kind of blaming Marvin for the rain but we've had rain here before and it doesn't take anything away from the event. The music is still great, no matter what's coming down from the heavens.''
But Bill Shoaf of Lexington, wearing a miniature umbrella attached to a cap, admitted that, while the music may go on as usual, his business is definitely affected by bad weather.
``If it rains all day, we obviously won't get as many customers,'' said Shoaf, who is with Bluegrass Catering Co. in Lexington. ``To give you an idea of how much business we do, we were at a similar-size music festival in Memphis last weekend and, with good weather, we sold over 1,200 onion blossoms and 300 chickens.
``We may not be able to do that much business but I hope - and pray - that it will fair off later in the day,'' he said.
Also praying for that to occur were festival logistics chairman Jerry Boyd and a top aide, Terry Crowley. They had already seen Friday's hot air balloon race, one of the biggest attractions at the festival, canceled because of the weather and were worried that rain would affect Saturday's parade, picnic and various concerts at Centre, Weisiger Park, Constitution Square State Historic Site and other venues throughout town.
Anticipating the question of a reporter who was pointing upward to a gray and unyielding sky, Boyd simply said, ``Rain or shine. We go on regardless of the weather.''
Crowley noted that there have been periods of rain during past festivals, but not at the start of the event and not after the grounds already had been saturated after days of downpours.
``We've had some gully washers here and there but we never have started it out this rainy,'' said Crowley, who, like Boyd, was wearing only a rain coat as his hair and face were covered with beads of moisture. ``At least I've heard that the weather forecasters are saying it will clear by parade time.''
It didn't, but the parade went on as scheduled at 11 a.m. Brad Coulter's color guard led a long line of bands, including several of the nearly two dozen groups that were to perform later in concerts at the festival.
One band rode the city's trolley. Another performed figure-eights on unicycles. Another cocooned itself inside a van that was rigged with umbrellas. Another sat in a new bandwagon. And others just used their feet, skipped the umbrellas and marched the old-fashioned way.
``This is our third festival and, so far, the wettest,'' said Bill Huntington of Oswego, Ill., sitting with his wife, Sandy, under a black and white umbrella in lawn chairs at the corner of Fourth and Main streets.
``But it isn't dampening my spirit, just my toes,'' said Sandy Huntington with a laugh.
``And we think it's kind of fun to be here and listen to a band that comes from near our hometown,'' said Bill Huntington, referring to the Naperville (Ill.) Municipal Band. ``A good friend is in the band and we can see him anytime up in Illinois, but it's sort of special to come down here and see him and his colleagues perform.''
Directly across Main from the Huntingtons were Coy and Ferne Jackson of Pulaski County. They sat in their pickup truck and watched the parade through a half-raised window.
``We've been to every one of these (festivals) and we weren't going to let a little rain keep us away this year,'' said Coy Jackson.
``A little rain?'' said his wife. ``It's not stopping, but it won't stop us from listening to some grand music.''
The parade concluded when the scores of people that
lined Main got into the street and followed the Olympia Brass
Band as it headed to the main stage at Centre. In past parades,
some festival goers brought umbrellas to replicate the atmosphere
of a New Orleans-style musical procession. This year, though,
most people had them and they weren't just for festive
decoration.
``In the past, we'd put our umbrellas away after the parade,'' said one veteran festival fan, poking her umbrella in the air in rhythm to Olympia's jazzy sounds. ``But this year, it looks like we're going to have to keep them up.''
But late Saturday afternoon, the rain subsided a bit, Jerry Boyd and his crew of logistics workers started to set up the 148 tables and 1,300 chairs for the picnic - and the colorful mushrooms started to die out as people began putting away their umbrellas.
``It's still not perfect weather, but it beats the steady rain of early this morning,'' said Schrader, stowing his pastel parasol.
And the wet ground didn't stop the grand sound, according to Schrader.
``The ground is so saturated, you could grow mushrooms. But holding an umbrella isn't such a hard thing to do if that's all it takes to listen to some great brass music.''