If you're having a little trouble getting into the swing of Dodge City Days this year, it might be because of a slight change of schedule.
For 20 years, the Q-97 concert was on Friday night and served as the opening event of Dodge City's 10-day festival of rodeo, music and food. This year, it's been moved to Saturday.
"We changed the date to accommodate an artist we really wanted to get. Then when that fell through, we realized the Saturday evening slot would make it easier for a lot of fans who come from out of town for the concert," said Bonita McClure, Dodge City market manager for Q-97 FM.
McClure has led the local Q-97 staff through the last nine concerts. And, as you might expect, she will literally begin working on next year's concert the day after this year's is over.
"It's a matter of second-guessing the music industry, the entertainers and the fans to try to bring the best artists we can afford," McClure said Tuesday in an interview with the Globe.
"In the last ten years, the pricing structure has changed radically. And if you miss the young up-and-comer on their way up one season, they will probably be too expensive to bring here the next year," McClure said.
In the mid-1990s, the station was able to bring acts like Brooks and Dunn or Alan Jackson. But the same dollars will no longer buy those acts.
"Those superstars go now to venues that seat 40,000, and their prices reflect that," McClure said.
Some sweet country music
This year's concert celebrates Q-97's 25th anniversary and opens with the 2003 Academy of Country Music's Top New Vocal Group, Emerson Drive. With four albums under their belts, a number-one single ("Moments") and a Grammy nomination, Emerson Drive rolls into Dodge City with a playlist that shows off their writing skills and their solid vocal harmonies.
Concert headliner Joe Nichols has a long list of awards, including the 2003 Country Music Television Breakthrough Video award, the Country Music Association Horizon Award and the Academy of Country Music's Top New Male Vocalist.
Nichols also has four albums to his credit. His most recent, "Real Things," includes songs about loss and victory, depression and transcendence, fleetingness and permanence, grit and grace, love and fighting.
Nichols, a 30-year-old native of Rogers, Ark., specializes in classic country's capacity for deep seriousness and deep fun.
Together, the two acts promise an evening of great country for local audiences.
A long list
Booking the artist is by no means the only concern on McClure's concert list. "Weather is our biggest factor affecting attendance — if it's 105 degrees, people might think twice about sitting outside for a concert," she said.
Once the artist is booked and the guys at the weather department have been paid off, McClure turns her attention to arranging for a portable stage with a topper for equipment, a professional sound system and concert lighting. If she's lucky, she can get the whole package from a single supplier.
Then she begins to recruit the army of volunteers who help stage the event.
The Q-97 staff does a lot of the work.
"Everything you see in the arena has been procured, hauled and set up by the staff," McClure said.
McClure organizes all the concert staff, including box office personnel, ushers, stage hands and the catering staff.
The high school football booster club, football players and coaches work eight hours setting up the stage and equipment. Perhaps more important, they have to stick around to tear everything down after the concert.
"One year no one showed up for tear-down," McClure said, "and the stage had to be in Hays by noon the next day for another concert. It was horrible, but we made it."
Bands travel like armies
McClure solved the food problem several years ago when she hired Jamie Lutz and her crew to do the catering.
"Our catering team is famous." McClure said. "One year the band got off the bus and asked, 'Where's Jamie?' They had been told about our food by another group that had been here two years earlier."
Just as the Dodge City rodeo is known among the cowboys as the most hospitable on the circuit, the concert crew is likewise appreciated.
Lutz has been cooking for the concert artists and crew for longer than she can count.
"I got asked the first time because the band requested all Mexican food, and my cousin, Kathleen Jones, works for the station. And the rest is history," Lutz said in a phone interview with the Globe Thursday
Lutz and her crew of 12, all volunteers, prepare lunch for the set-up crew the day before the concert. On the day of the concert, they start early with breakfast — "sometimes they ask for a full spread and sometimes just juice, coffee and rolls," Lutz said.
The day builds as more people show up for lunch, and the full staff sits down for supper as concertgoers begin to arrive.
After the concert, Lutz provides snacks and beverages for the tear-down crew, which often works until 2 a.m. or later.
Lutz plans her menus based on contract riders. Each artist specifies what food they want and how and when they want it.
Lutz always tries to provide several choices. This year's menu includes barbecued beef sandwiches, homemade chicken and noodle soup, a variety of salads and homemade cookies for lunch.
For the pre-concert supper, Lutz and her crew are preparing roast beef, lasagna, a selection of salads, relishes, breads, corn on the cob and green beans, and desserts.
"They don't seem to get corn on the cob, so they always appreciate that. And they tell they're never served homemade desserts, so I have a couple of friends who help me come up with two or three gooey desserts every year, and they always go over well," Lutz said.
Most of the artists request food they can have handy on their bus. Some want deli trays; some want sandwiches already made up.
Lutz handles special requirements from vegetarians, vegans and people with food allergies.
"This year, both of the groups asked for a basket of oranges, apples and bananas for their buses," she said.
Lutz has fond memories of artists she's served over the years.
"I'd say 99 percent of them are really nice people," she said. "When the Oak Ridge Boys were here in 1991, my son was just a kid, and the guys invited him to play Frisbee and football with them."
Most of the artists go out of their way to express their appreciation to the cooks.
"Dolly Parton didn't eat with her band, but she made a special effort to come over to us and say, 'Thank you.' She said her band had told her the food was really good."
Chris LeDoux told Lutz that Dodge City was the first place to invite his family to join them for meals. Montgomery Gentry talked about Dodge City and the great food and hospitality they'd received during an appearance on a late-night talk show a few days later.
Meals are set up in the Roundup media office, using real plates, real silverware and real table linens.
"We try to keep everything Western, and there's always flowers on the tables. We want them to tell everybody else that Dodge City is a great place to play," Lutz said.
It's harder than it looks
McClure credits the Roundup organization with maintaining a great facility for concert events.
"They are great hosts for our event -— if we need to find a plug-in or something, they are right there with the answer," she said.
Roundup and Q-97 team up to cover security for the event, partly because Roundup uses its alcoholic beverage license to provide refreshments for the concert.
To provide usher service for the event, McClure relies on a pool of people she calls "real volunteers." She keeps a list of people who contact the station and "just want to help with the concert some way." The ushers get a T-shirt, some great food and a sense of satisfaction at being part of an important Dodge City Days event.
As the day of the concert draws nearer, McClure can at least cross worrying about the weather off her list.
"We purchase rain insurance every year, and it's a significant expense, but you just can't go without it," McClure said.
As the last chords ring across the arena and the applause fades, McClure and her staff can turn their attention to the nine other Dodge City Days events they're involved in, from the Great Quack Attack duck race to Summer Sing.
And it's time to begin serious planning for next year's concert.
