BROOKINGS – Philip Keller and Erin Keller are old-hand volunteers on the Brookings Summer Arts Festival committee. He’s this year’s chair.

He also chaired it in 2020 – but then COVID-19 shut it down. Erin is also one of this year’s featured artists: she’s part of Copper Penny Design, which she shares with Megan (her sister and a triplet) and Mark Moeller, Megan’s husband.  

“It’s a laser-cutting business,” Erin explained. “So you can do anything, cut and engrave, from wood, silicon, leather. We’ll design things.”

The husband-and-wife team’s affiliation with BSAF goes back about a decade. 

“Phil and I had a booth, probably about 10 years ago,” Erin said. “We sculpted wire trees. We started with a roll of copper wire and then we had a pattern that we would form it around and form a tree.”

However, it’s now in their ongoing roles as volunteers that the Kellers are making their mark on BSAF. The late Julie Huebner, one of the BASF founders, invited them to join the committee. They did and stayed.

“The first year we were juried in, we also joined the committee,” Phil said. Being a committee member is a year-round commitment. It demands the efforts of about 30 to 40 people, all volunteers, and many of the volunteers serve on more than one committee. 

In addition to being the overall festival chair, Philip chairs the Food Booths committee and serves on the Park Staking committee. Erin chairs the Web Page committee. 

“Obviously the festival is in July,” Erin said. “We do the wrap-up meeting in August. And then we start planning again in September.”

The final pre-festival planning session was June 22, with all systems go.

“We have nothing really to decide,” Philip said earlier that day. “We have all the packets (ready for the) artists, food booths, antique vendors, edibles and naturals, living history.

“We put together all of the packets that we hand out to each vendor, that have the booth numbers, meal tickets for the Friday night meal and the actual instructions for the artists when they can enter the park.”

When it comes to who gets inside Pioneer Park each year, the name of the game is quality. Being juried in one year is not a guarantee for a return visit the next year. 

“We always encourage new vendors to apply,” Erin said. “We want to keep it a high-quality art show. That’s why we jury, so we can keep it high quality. 

“Every year we have a Media Award. And that award winner’s work is selected for the following year. We have a member that designs the logo off of that.”

This year’s two-day BSAF on Saturday and Sunday, July 9-10, is pulling in 200 national artists, 30 gourmet/ethnic food booths, 20 edibles/natural artisans,10 antique booths and 18 living history booths. Add to that an interactive children’s area and free entertainment on three stages.

More volunteers wanted

As chair of the Food Booths committee, Philip explained that he “reaches out to new food vendors, trying to get them to apply. Sometimes that’s a struggle to get new people to put in because they automatically think that everybody’s been so tenured that they don’t have a chance – or a shot.”

“One thing that I’ve noticed, too, with some of the food vendors, we have a lot of community fundraisers, is that they’re having a hard time finding volunteers to man their booths. People aren’t volunteering like they used to.

“Even with our committee, we’re trying to find more volunteers to come up with ideas to bring more people in. I think that’s what we’ll kind of focus on for next year, too. Right away we’re going to try to do a couple meetings in different places just to see if we can get the public to come in and help volunteer to keep the festival going. If we don’t keep with it, who’s going to fill our shoes?”

Both the Kellers have full-time jobs. Philip is a sergeant first-class in the Army National Guard (with one tour of combat duty in the Middle East), assigned to recruiting and retention duty and to instructor duty with the Army ROTC unit at South Dakota State University. Erin owns The Image Studio, a photography business in Brookings.

“The Guard wants everybody to volunteer within your community,” Philip explained. “This is one way for me to volunteer and be part of the community.”

Erin expressed appreciation for those volunteers with longtime service on BSAF committees, but she noted there is a need for younger people to come onboard. 

“It would be nice to get new people in, (so we could) help train them and pass the torch to some, so that when older people step down there would be people to fill in and continue with the festival.”

The couple see the annual BSAF as an event that makes Brookings a destination and a value-added economic benefit by virtue of the many visitors who come to town each year and spend money on such things as food, gas and lodging.

The Kellers, married for about 10 years, have two daughters. He’s a Milbank native; she hails from North Dakota. They met while they were students at Northern State University in Aberdeen.

For more information on the Brookings Summer Arts Festival, log on to www.bsaf.com.

Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.