KVMR celebrated thirty years of broadcasting on July 11 and 12 and in the place it all began-at least after it came down off the [Banner] mountain-in the Miners Foundry in Nevada City. What was meticulously in planning for six months as a street fair on Spring Street in the Miners Foundry parking lot, as well as inside the Foundry building for an estimated crowd of 1,800 revelers over two days, was collapsed into a colorful, if somewhat shorter, kaleidoscope of memories and music as the event was moved indoors to avoid the thick blanket of smoke and ozone that made being outside in Nevada City unhealthy.

Staff, Board, volunteers, and guests all rose to the occasion and within 24 hours of making the decision to change the venue to protect the families who planned to attend, the first guests had filled the hall and were dancing to the Texas-Based Southern Rock band Moses Guest. There are many people that made the event what it was. Over 80 volunteers put their shoulders to the wheel to make this party happen. Here are a few highlights that deserve special mention and KVMR's gratitude.

Thank you to Mikail Graham and Nevada City Music Events for recruiting a hefty and richly textured musical line-up to play over two days on two stages. The musicians, who were paid only a nominal stipend, produced a heartfelt and exciting program honoring KVMR. Especially touching was an original song written Bob Woods and performed by Vicki and the Pinecones entitled, Station on the Hill. Bob started writing the song a couple of years before the 30th party and finished it just in time for Vicki and the Pinecones to perform it. The video-loop stage backdrop produced by Mikail provided a moving trip down memory lane for everyone at the event-old-timers and those new to KVMR. Board member and Committee Chair of Thirty Years in Your Ears, Michael Young and his volunteer team of artist/archivists, Jerianne Van Dijk, Mona Matthias, and Barbara Chestnut turned the Stone Hall of the Foundry into a KVMR Thirty-Year Retrospective that attracted a steady stream of visitors and not a few tears over two days.

April Miranda and her "don't worry, we are community," food vendors- Krepalicious, Cheri Snook's Handmade Ice Cream, The Kitchen, The Briarpatch, Nevada City Iced Coffee, and Way Yum Sushi-who set up in less than optimum space without any assurance of whether they would make any money or not- made the event a party. And so, of course, did Shawndel Story and her bartenders. Nevada City Winery and Sierra Nevada Brewery contributed the libations.

Mikail, Michael and April were joined on the 30th Anniversary Steering Committee by Scott Ingram and Don Harner to handle the delicate public relations jobs (especially in Nevada City and with KVMR) of parking and security.

While the trash is not usually the "queen of the ball," one of the goals of Thirty Years in Your Ears was "zero waste." Allison Miller worked with Nevada County Recycling to implement an integrated system to dispose of compostable and recyclable materials. All I know is that at the end of Saturday night, compostable piles and recyclable piles took up a fair part of the lower end of the Foundry parking lot and as the last one to leave Saturday, I was able to carry out the only actual garbage bag with one hand. Thank you to everyone who worked on our on-going effort to make KVMR completely green. It wasn't perfect, but we will keep working on it.

And if there was any doubt, that KVMR puts green on a pedestal, the lovely ladies from Haute Trash volunteered to serve food prepared and donated by the Holbrooke Hotel to our Underwriters and Life Time Members during an event within an event at City Hall.

Thank you to Bud Beebe and the terrific Miners Foundry staff, especially. They are among the best venue staff I have ever had the pleasure of working in my 30-year career.

KVMR thanks the business and residential neighbors who not only put up with having an extra thousand+ people in the 'hood', but joined in the spirit of the celebration.

And to Nevada City-who not only gave us a wonderful resolution, lent us Spring Street and the traffic signs to secure it-but, in the end, actually turned over City Hall at the last minute so we could honor KVMR underwriters and lifetime members on this memorable occasion in spite of the unforeseeably cramped quarters. The Grass Valley City Council and the Nevada County Board of Supervisors also recognized KVMR's role in the community in this 30th year. We are so glad to be part of this community.

The entire KVMR Board of Directors donned their "volunteer" hats and did what needed to be done to warmly welcome our guests-whether it was running for more beer or moving tables, they were on-site and on-target. Each of the KVMR staff was involved in one part of the event or another. While holding down pretty intense regular jobs running KVMR 24/7 and fulfilling their board responsibilities, the KVMR team led the community in celebration of community radio.

We appreciate the support of the businesses and individuals who contributed generously to the funding of the celebration: Loma Rica Ranch, Citizen's Bank of Nevada County, and Mark Leviton.

The invisible, but known to us, people who deserve a special round of applause are the individuals and organizations who worked hard in the planning and preparation of the event, and/or volunteered to participate and had to be eliminated with the sudden change in venue. Everyone was gracious-pitching in where they could help with the change, from David McKay, who didn't get the word and spent hours packing his booth, and arrived to set up at 7 a.m.-to the Celtic troupe Diamond Rose Academie d'Armes who reduced their show from a 20'x20' venue to a 5'x5' space in front of the indoor stage; and many good sports in between. The North San Juan Volunteer Fire Department switched gear from a truck to a mobile unit with a pack strapped to his chest.

Yes, it was tight, but we are family. And after 30 years, I guess that it what it is all about. Thank you.

By Susan Kelley, KVMR's Development Director