The Black Swamp Festival 2004 committee met June 23 to address details of this year’s event, slated for Sep. 10, 11 and 12.

Issues included volunteer staffing, fundraising, concessions, artist setup, logistics and budgeting.

Volunteers are culled from a mixed group, say organizers.

The festival is licensed as valid “community service” for probationary purposes, but this does not mean the committee has stopped looking for workers.

“[The court-mandated folks are] not a given. It’s not unlimited,” said logistics manager Alex Hann. “The [BGHS] football team is a great group for that.”

Volunteer Roger Anderson also cited possible involvement by other Bowling Green High School athletes.

“[The basketball team] is a small group, and hockey is small too,” Anderson said.

Even as volunteer lists are being formed, other details are essentially finished.

“The vendor contracts are all in, so all of that’s going well,” concessions manager Amy Fischer said. Meanwhile, smaller things are still being worked out–like whether to include road maps on already-costly brochures.

Visual arts supervisor Tom McLaughlin says the maps would be a welcome addition “…especially when people need to find out where Prospect and Church are.”

Anderson agrees.

“I remember one year at the art festival a woman drove right into a booth,” he said.

Organizers hope to avoid such incidents by centralizing information in easy-to-find locations. “The was no owner last year, and now there is one,” said chairman Matt Karlovec regarding last year’s information center site. Organizers hope to use the same site this year.

Dispersal of other information in the form of marketing starts long before summer, swelling as incoming freshmen receive information on the festival. Earlene Kilpatrick of Main Street Bowling Green asserted that the extra attention has paid off in past years.

“Parents are so saturated with information that last year we actually had a flyer for students that we put in their bags,” Kilpatrick said. “Then they come visit when they’re not so saturated.”

She said student involvement continues to grow. “This might be our fifth year with the freshman orientation program. Many of them bring their parents back through the years.”

Other forms of marketing also keep expanding.

“We’re going to expand our press release to cover more cities in Michigan and Ohio,” said marketing advisor Kelli Kling. “Many folks drive a long way to see the bands, so…”

Anderson agreed that the event’s growth relies partially on music. “There are people that will travel a long way, depending on the band.”

As the event has grown, many sponsors have stayed loyal. Large downtown sponsors this year include Grounds for Thought, Ben Franklin, and Time Warner Cable. Karlovec praised Skybank, which plays an instrumental role.

“Sky is our title sponsor, and provides the most support,” he said. “Another of what you might call major funding comes from the Ohio Arts Council.”

Along with Skybank and the other large sponsors, Treasurer Kay Baglione argued that “friends”–mid-sized donors–have been a vital element.

“Last year, the Friends of the Festival gave over $8,000,” Baglione said. “The campaign has just begun and so far last year’s folks have lived up to that.”

Karlovec, said many such details work themselves out as the meetings become more frequent.

“It is a progressive schedule that we do,” he said.

Experience generally will be an asset. Many committee members have been active for over a decade.

Assistant treasurer Leslie Oswald backs that idea.

“Once you get involved, you kind of stay involved,” Oswald said.

Even as experience and festival size grow, Baglione said, simple necessities are occasionally improvised.

“We can always use another cash drawer.”