Loose Leaf Notes

The following appeared in the July 18^th issue of The Floyd Press. The festival is set to begin this Thursday and run through Sunday.

 

A framed photograph of rock-icon Jackson Browne hangs in Linda DeVito’s office at Across-the-Way Productions (ATWP), the downtown Floyd company that promotes and produces Floydfest and other live events.   DeVito, who introduced Browne to a sell-out crowd at last year’s festival, downplays the interactions she’s had with celebrated musicians who have played at Floydfest over the festival’s 12 years –Browne, Ani DiFranco, Levon Helm, Bruce Hornsby, Alison Krauss, Sam Bush and others.

“It’s a thrill for sure, but it’s not as much who I’m introducing as who I’m introducing them to,” she said.  “To have the joy of being on that stage and seeing all those people enjoying what we worked so hard on all those other days of the years is so unbelievably satisfying. It’s hard to really put into words.”

DeVito’s full-time role as Floydfest’s “development director” is almost as hard to pin down as she is this time of year.  She wears many hats but primarily deals with customer service and ticketing issues. “I answer the tough questions and solve the problems,” said the Virginia Tech graduate who chose Floyd County as the place to raise her two children 30 years ago.

DeVito met Floydfest founder Kris Hodges during a Leon Russell concert at the Pine Tavern, which was promoted by Rio Semione, Floydfest’s artist/musician relations representative who passed away in May.  Hodges and DeVito talked and “hit it off,” and DeVito, who has a background in media and radio, was brought on as an MC the second year of the festival. She’s been an integral part of the festival ever since.

When asked about Semione, a tear comes to DeVito’s eye.  She admits that, although she gave a eulogy at Semione’s memorial celebration, she’s been so busy with festival logistics that she hasn’t grieved fully.  “It will be different,” DeVito said, noting that artist relations duties are being covered by Semione’s assistant, Kellee Barbour, who is doing a great job.  Remembering Semione as a cornerstone of Floydfest’s beginnings, DeVito spoke about how everyone’s roles morphed as the festival grew.  “We did what we had to to get the job done.  It’s truly been a team effort,” she said.

Gearing up for this year’s four day festival (July 25 – 28), dubbed Rise and Shine, DeVito juggled a phone call and an email, before pausing to talk about how Floydfest founders, Hodges and Erika Johnson, and staff have been building on the festival’s success, which started out small and has grown to draw crowds of 15,000.

Featuring music on seven stages, performance arts, healing arts, a children’s universe, a teen scene, a global village, arts and crafts, food vendors, beer and wine tents, hiking and biking trails, sustainability panel discussions and workshops on everything from beekeeping to hula-hooping, the festival (registered as a Virginia Green Participant) has added a stronger outdoor component with an offsite bike race, kayaking and tubing on the Little River, guided hikes and a 5K run Sunday morning.

“Because the festival is located in such an absolutely magnificent part of the country (milepost 170.5 on the Blue Ridge Parkway), we knew that the music and arts were only a part of what we could eventually offer.  DeVito described festival attendees as outdoor-loving people who are environmentally conscientious and take “keeping the scene clean” to heart by participating in the festival’s recycling and composting efforts.

 One of the biggest changes this year is the addition of the new Alpha Parking Lot, 3.5 miles from the festival site, where general admission check-in and wrist-banding will take place.  An increased number of buses, run by a professional company, will shuttle festival goers and their gear to and from the 80 acre site from Alpha Lot.  

“It’s going to be a night and day experience,” said Floydfest’s full-time office manager Cindy Boehling, who was also at work in the ATWP suite of offices above Jeanie O’Neill’s Boutique and the Spessard Law Office.  Boehling was referring to last year’s long wait for shuttle buses at the conclusion of the festival on Sunday.  She explained how a civil engineer who attended the festival contacted them with feedback and was eventually brought on to re-design the system.

Across the street from the Alpha lot is the Delta lot for off-site camping. Local Boy scouts who ran the shuttle buses in the past will be shuttling single day ticket holders to and from a closer lot, called the Charlie Lot.

“We’ve completely redone the festival entrance,” said Jessica Taylor, Kris Hodges’ full-time production assistant.  She was busy at her computer station computer working on artist payouts and updating social media and website pages.  Taylor and Boehling reported that RV and onsite parking (VIP tickets) sold out in less than 2 minutes when tickets went on sale on November 19th.  Only a very limited number of single day tickets for Friday and Sunday are still available and can be purchased at floyfest.com or by calling the ATWP office. (Note: they are sold out as of this posting.)

This year’s music roster includes Old Crow Medicine Show, The Luminers, Brandi Carlile, and a host of renowned, cutting-edge and up-and-coming bands.  Taylor, Boehling and DeVito hope to catch bits of the performances, but they don’t count on it.   “It’s amazing and awesome. I think we all love being on site. We’re working with people we love and putting on something we are passionate about. But it’s not play time for us. It’s work time,” said Taylor.   She estimates that the staff works as many as 20 hours a day during the festival’s extended weekend.  

DeVito estimates that it takes as many as 800 year round and seasonal staff, volunteers and interns to produce Floydfest each year and that the success of the family-friendly festival comes from the sense of community it creates.  “Our attendees come to Floydfest because they feel a part of a community that they would love to live in and they get to experience it for 4 ½ days every year,” DeVito said.  Citing a list of musicians who have commented on their positive experience playing at Floydfest, she adds, “The artists feel it too.  It’s a community we all feel part of.” 

Photos:  1. Festival founder Kris Hodges (center), founder Erika Johnson (to Hodges’ left) and others at a Floydfest prep meeting at ATWP. 2. Linda DeVito fielding emails in her office. 3. Linda standing at a wall with 11 years of Floydfest posters pointing out where #12 will be. 4. Cindy Boehling.  5. Producer’s assistant, Jessica Taylor wearing a one-of-a-kind Floydfest hat that was designed by a graffiti artist in New York and given to her as a from Hodges.