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Show The Art Festival Mod Squad byNanChalat -., , . , : :: . ; -, 'f:X''"-.U m l! 1 1 I ' :.; v--v - 4 . . - i . fa (Mmmiiii 11 mmmi'Mimw'ii!,m" " 8 photo by NAN CHALAT Technical Director Andy Monaco, Director Sean Toomey and Assistant Director Gary Sanders. T JLhe logistics of throwing a block party for 200,000 people requires a special sort of leader one who has the organizational instincts of a drill sargeant, the imagination of a poet, the patience of a saint and who knows how to have a good time. Fortunately, the Kimball Art Center has found such a person to direct the Park City Art Festival. Sean Toomey, as he proved last year, fits the bill. Armed with the experience he gleaned from last year's festival, Toomey plans to make this year's event even better. And so far, everything is running like clockwork. For example: the locations for each of the booths on Main Street were marked two weeks ago. (Now, the following story is not to suggest that Toomey didn't do a fine job last year, its just that this year he is hoping to save some emotional wear and tear on the staff.) Last year Toomey started marking the street when the bars closed Thursday night before the festival. He vastly underestimated un-derestimated the enormity of the task and didn't get to sleep that night or the next. He managed to catch a few winks Saturday morning but in his exhaustion forgot to set the alarm. Well, there you have it. The director ! overslept on the morning the festival was to begin. Worse yet, Toomey had told the police to tow every car left on Main Street after 6 a.m. I twas 7 a.m. and Toomey was about to panic. But when ( he reached mission central everything l was running smoothly. The object had been to organize this staff and volunteers so that he would be free to deal with unexpected emergencies and the system llvas working. As it turned out, the most iercy!!,,i t youngster bumped into a ceramics booth and broke eight hand-thrown pots. "Once the Art Festival begins, it is like a big boulder rolling down a hill," said Toomey. "It picks up a momentum of its own. All the preparation and advance meetings really paid off. This year I'm trying to do even more in advance." Toomey is also bent on learning from experience. After using the same artist application for years, Sean arrived on the scene and rewrote it. Then, after reading artist evaluations of last year's festival and making careful observations of everything from the acceptance procedures to the arrival of the artists, he began noting changes for next year. The position of art festival director is now a full time job. but as the actual date "WlyWM assistants. This year, Gary Sanders joined the Art Festival forces in March as assistant director. He is persuing a degree in arts administration and has an undergraduate degree in theater arts. And now that the weekend is upon us, Andy Monaco has been given the title Technical Director. Monaco is in charge of all the physical details like setting up the food booths and stages, setting up signs and coordinating the city crews with the volunteers. This is Monaco's tenth year with the Art Festival and he says the main part of their job is "to keep 'em smiling." So, if you are reading this on Main Street surrounded by about 200,000 other people and you are smiling you have Toomey, Sanders and Monaco to thank. liMiUmUUmiRSttiliii'rfUiUimifM |