Managing the Blues

At the Roots N’ Blues N’ BBQ Festival last Saturday afternoon, three bands were playing, thousands of people were streaming downtown and hundreds of volunteers, staff and security workers were managing the crowd when the weather forecast proved correct — it started to rain. Then it started to pour.

Nicole Thieret, who was managing the festival for Thumper Entertainment for the first time, stayed calm while troubleshooting over her walkie-talkie and cell phone. “We had rain for about an hour, and it kind of cleared the streets out, but everyone came right back out.” The musicians, they kept on playing.

Thieret, 24, collected armfuls of yellow umbrellas to pass out to musicians, venders and other staff.

Also during the festival, a headliner musician came down with bronchitis and had to be replaced the day before the performance. Although Thieret said there were police officers patrolling every 50 feet or so, volunteers still needed to quickly wrap a parking lot with yellow “do not cross” tape so people test driving Ford Fiestas wouldn’t hit anyone. One band leader wanted to be paid immediately because she was leaving the country.

Thieret said on Wednesday they were still counting tickets and waiting for a crowd estimate from police. An estimated 120,000 people attended last year’s festival. “I don’t think it was more than last year,” Thieret said. “There were a lot of people concerned that with charging this year there would be less numbers, but there were always people waiting in lines to get tickets, and not many people complained that they had to buy tickets.”