Four days before Coplay Community Days, organizers were "sweating bullets."

Because of numerous changes made to the layout of the festival, which took place Aug. 22-24, changes also needed to be made with the electrical service at the Coplay Parkway, where the festival is held.

"Four days before the festival we still didn't get the OK from PPL," said Community Days Chairman Steve Burker. "We had major problems. We were sweating bullets."

The promise of power for the festival came from Contractors Inc. Although the firm had nothing to do with the festival, it offered to supply enough generators to run the event.

"It would have cost a couple grand," Burker said. "But people have to keep in mind the taxpayers paid nothing toward Community Days."

Community Days pays its expenses from revenues generated by the festival. The borough does not pay any festival expenses.

Fortunately four days before the festival, PPL "showed up and did the final hookup for us," Burker said.

"If we wouldn't have gotten this hookup done on time, we would have had Contractors Inc. supply us with enough generators to light up the town of Coplay," he said. "It never came to that but we did have our backup plan."

Burker stressed that the PPL installation, which cost Community Days $12,000, will benefit borough residents.

This was only one of the problems encountered during festival preparations.

An hour before the band, the Aardvarks, was to go on stage Aug. 22, a generator inside the beer truck broke and no one could tap beer.

Rick Laub, who works for Geiger Beverage, had stuck around even after he was officially off the clock at work. His company had closed so he called Hokey Beverage. Hokey supplied the needed part and Laub fixed the generator on his own time, Burker said.

"Rick Laub was not there getting paid by Geiger," said Burker, adding that Hokey Beverage also supplied the necessary part for free.

Rain that night didn't deter Aardvarks fans, who came out en masse, said Burker. However, heavy rains overnight caused a tent to collapse over the German Ladies' food stand.

Saturday morning, Burker said, he encountered the German Ladies crying, thinking they would not be able to open for the rest of the festival.

The American Club came to the rescue, bringing one of its tents and setting it up so the German Ladies could serve wiener schnitzel and other German dishes by the time the festival opened at noon.

"Most people don't know what ... Hokey beverage did, what Rick Laub did, what the American Club did. But without them, we had major problems," Burker said.

Coplay Community Days traditionally opens with a shared blessing from the town's three churches. However, the pastor of one church had to attend a family reunion. The pastors of the other two churches had similar scheduling problems and could not help.

Father Eric Gruber came to the rescue.

Gruber is pastor of St. John Fisher in Catasauqua, where Coplay Police Chief Vincent Genovese goes. Genovese asked his pastor for help, Burker said.

Even though Gruber is not from Coplay and has no direct ties to the town, he came over and blessed the festival, Burker said.

"[Gruber] did a great job," he said.

Already, Burker and the committee are considering changes for next year. The biggest problem they have to tackle is parking.

The crowds were "massive," Burker said, even on Saturday when it rained. Friday, the festival had record beer sales.

"Over the last four years, every year the numbers are better and the crowds are better and bigger and it's pretty mind boggling," said Burker.

The festival has a lot of parking to offer but the bigger crowds are causing a need for more. Lots at the park and a field across the street were full as was curbside parking on streets near the park.

Burker is considering shuttling people from other locations in the borough. Those locations have yet to be worked out but most likely the American Club – a big supporter of the event – will provide one of them.

Burker said he and festival organizers do not want people to avoid the event because of a lack of parking.