Steve "Doc" Floor has been the Utah Arts Festival performing arts coordinator since 1999.
However, Floor, who formed the local world-music band Zion Tribe and was the music program director for KRCL radio, has been a part of the festival since its beginnings on Main Street three decades ago.
"I have been hanging out at the festival since year one in 1977," Floor told the Deseret News. "I've also been a participant and performed many times as a musician, and in the mid-'80s had a food booth there for two years.
"So I've seen all angles of this event as organizer, attendee, musician and someone selling food."
Floor, who comes from a musical family, said scheduling all the festival's performing artists each year has grown into an overwhelming and daunting task. But someone's go to do it.
"The Salt Lake and Utah music scene has grown exponentially," he said. "When I first took over as performing arts coordinator in 1999, I received 80 applications. The next year I received 100. And (the number) has grown 5 to 10 percent every year since.
"This year, we took in 321 music applications alone. That doesn't include dance and street theater performances."
Floor and his committee, which is composed of people with deep knowledge of the Salt Lake music scene, review every application.
"The committee members are people who go out regularly to see the local bands," Floor said. "So I can ask about a band and they will turn and look at each other, smile, roll their eyes, and look back at me and say, 'Doc, this is the most popular band in town,' and they'll tell me the reasons why we should or shouldn't have them play at the festival."
Going through the rock- and pop-music applications takes about 11 hours in one sitting, Floor said. "And then we take four additional days to go through the other categories — classical, jazz, folk and bluegrass."
Once the artists are chosen, Floor sends out acceptance letters.
"Out of 321 applications, I send out 80 'yes' letters and send out 241 'no' letters," he said.
Each year he deals with the rejection-letter ramifications.
"I come from a local musical family, and some of those 'no' letters go to friends, fellow musicians, family members and even myself," he said.
Floor said there are a lot of musicians who are good enough to play the festival every year, but he can't book them all.
"(I have to send) rejection letters to people who are very talented," he said. "Some even have degrees in music. But I can't always have the same people play every year."
And that's just the local scene.
Floor also has to schedule the national and international touring headliners, such as the Cowboy Junkies and Michelle Shocked.
"Some actually send in applications, but that's rare," he said. "Otherwise we book the headliners like any concert promoter will book them. Their agents contact us and we negotiate the fees and schedule the date.
"There is a puzzle to put together because we can't have all of our headliners play one night," he said. "And there is so much stuff going on. When I first started coordinating performing arts for the Utah Arts Festival, we had three stages. And now we have seven."
e-mail: scott@desnews.com