Your festival coordinator has pictures to prove that cats can be harnessed and leashed just like any dog and we do expect them to be.

Maria Enrico, program director of modern foreign languages at Mercy and the festival coordinator, said Thursday's program was expected to be the biggest draw.

The core team consists of festival coordinators, heads of competitions, events, finance, marketing,show management and public relations.

"They were playing at house parties, yard parties or where there were just a group of guys getting together," explained Debra Eatman, festival coordinator.

"It's to give people a better understanding of who their neighbors are," said Jewel Kinch, festival coordinator.

"In the States it's not 'Laura the Jewish festival coordinator' - it's never part of the descriptive."

"The whole weekend is about our next generation of performers," said Donell Stines, the festival coordinator and a dance instructor.

The festival has one paid employee-the festival coordinator, who is hired for six weeks during the festival.

He helped organize several international Cambridge Poetry Festivals between 1977 and 1985, and was festival coordinator in 1979.

"Duke Farms had been looking for ways to open up to the public," said David Mayhew, the festival coordinator.