The weather this morning is sunny with a promise for more, and Black Swamp Arts Festival chairman Dave
Shaffer’s mood matches the weather.
The future of the arts festival is secure at least through next year, he said. The weather, he said,
"hurts us much more than the economic climate," and with good weather in the offing the
festival’s outlook is sunny.
The festival opens today at 5 p.m. with music on the Main Stage in City Lot 2 behind the 100 block of
South Main Street in downtown Bowling Green. The festival continues Saturday with the art show, youth
activities and music on four stages Saturday from 10 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The struggling economy has taken a bite out of the festive spirit across the country. In Toledo, the
annual jazz festival was canceled.
Kelly Wicks, who books most of the entertainment for the Black Swamp Arts Festival, said one act had to
cancel in late spring because shows at other venues didn’t come through and made touring untenable.
Another performer had to switch his schedule because of canceled shows.
And on the art front Greg Lawlor, publisher of the Art Fair Source Book, said "there’s been a lot of
attrition" on the art fair circuit.
The Black Swamp Arts Festival has felt the bite in the loss of corporate sponsorships and a reduction in
aid from the Ohio Arts Council.
Yet despite those, "we are having a festival as good as last year," Shaffer said.
The juried art show is even bigger than last year with 112 accepted exhibitors.
While the festival appreciated the help from corporations, the volunteer committee that organizes the
event has continued to count on individual donors for about two-thirds of the $150,000 budget.
"People who have always donated still are, and maybe they tried a little harder."
Because the festival is free, people are still expected to come out, especially if the weather is good,
he said.
The beverages they drink and festival merchandise they purchase go a long way toward helping the
committee meet its budget.
That the festival is so reliant on volunteers, about 600 or so, also helps. "Without them it
absolutely couldn’t happen," he said.
The festival draws from throughout the community including Bowling Green State University for help with
everything from setting up and tearing down to helping children create their own masterpieces.
Michael Hough, a folksinger from Ann Arbor, Mich., who will play this weekend with The Yellow Room Gang
and played here previously in Mustard’s Retreat, said he sees the festival as an extension of the
community as well as being part of a greater "under the radar" community of musicians and
artists.
"We’re all in this together," he said of the performers, artists and workers who help stage the
event.
The variety of music "reflects and honors the diversity in our culture," he said.
"Not every community has a festival that’s as cool as the BSAF," Hough said, "and I think
Bowling Green should be proud of bringing it off."
Ben Yonas, of Yonas Media, has brought acts from Eastern Europe to the festival for the past three years.
This year that includes the first American performance of the Gypsy band Parno Graszt and returning
favorites Little Cow. Yonas said he likes to start tours in Bowing Green because the hospitality is so
good.
File photo. Local kids were called on stage to help sing with Sarah Borges, left, of the Broken Singles,
at the Black Swamp Arts Festival. (Photo: J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)