Brian Baker and crew power up festival grounds
By DAVID SCHRAG , Morning Journal Writer 06/20/2004
LORAIN -- For almost two decades at three different sites, Brian Baker has added
his own spark of life to the Lorain International Festival and Bazaar.
Baker, 41, Amherst, business manager for Lorain's International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers Local 129, has volunteered his time and expertise since 1988
to wire up the electricity for the many ethnic booths.
''I guess, I'm fortunate. I make a good living. I make a good hourly wage. And,
if I can give a little bit back to the community to help somebody, it means a
lot,'' Baker said.
Baker has been volunteering his time and services to the annual Lorain
International Festival and Bazaar for nearly 16 years. He and his team meet with
contractors before every festival begins to find the right people to donate the
necessary materials he needs to wire all of the festival booths for electricity.
Baker has volunteered his expertise for the bazaar since its first location in
the rear parking lot at the Centre of Sheffield. From there, the bazaar site
relocated to Lorain's Veterans Park and now calls the Black River Landing its
official home.
''I think the original intent of the International Festival is to bring all the
people together, to bring all the cultures together. In addition to bringing
that culture in there, we actually get the opportunity to bring our trade in and
are able to give the electrical part,'' he said.
Baker started volunteering his time to the festival when he started as an
apprentice at the IBEW. He said that his boss at the time, Tom Patterson, would
tell people certain times they had to work and that there weren't any ifs ands
or buts about it.
Baker continued his volunteering efforts throughout the years, well after
Patterson left. Instead of assigning times, Baker said he divides things up a
bit differently.
Baker prefers his electricians work at least two hours of community service a
week and he allows them to choose what they want to work on.
''We do it because we need to go out into the public and the public's
perceptions of unions is not very good,'' he admitted.
''I think the community involvement helps us as well as the community,'' said
Baker. ''We get to give back and it also allows us to get out into the community
and spread the word about us.''
Baker, a 1981 graduate of Elyria West High School, attributed his work ethic to
his father.
''Back when I was a kid, my dad was always telling me that, Ã You need to show
up to work every day, show up on time every day and you need to give them at
least eight hours a day,' and that has always stuck with me,'' Baker said.
After he graduated from high school, Baker worked for Kmart in Amherst and took
a shining to a fellow employee, marrying her a year later. He and his wife, Kim,
have now been married for 22 years as of June 1.
They have two daughters. Courtney, 22 just graduated from Ashland College and
Ashley, 19, just relocated back to the area from North Carolina. Baker said he
is looking forward to spending more time with them.
After his stint at Kmart, Baker got a job with PC Campana doing manual labor,
but he said he was interested pursuing something different.
While at PC Campana, he talked to some electricians to see what he could do, and
they told him he should go down and apply to the local IBEW. At this time, Baker
said he truly didn't have any real experience, but he applied at the union
anyway and wound up actually getting in.
It was then he started his four-year apprenticeship and worked his way up the
ladder to become business manager.
For Baker, the festival is a great chance to give back to his community and
mingle with them and he does put in a lot of his own time and the time of his
employees trying to make things better each year.
This year, Baker said they have stepped things up a bit.
By the time the festival is over, Baker estimates he will have spent close to
100 of his own hours planning and working for the festival. Improving operations
year-by year is an extremely important part of making sure the festival is a
success, said Baker.
''Last year, they had just moved over to the new site and it was obviously a new
experience for them,'' said Baker.
''When we went down there, we knew it was going to be a learning experience for
us as well,'' said Baker.
''It got to the point where they were using so much electricity that the
transformer wasn't big enough. So we wound up having to continually throw huge
ice bags on it just to try and cool it down.''
Baker underscored that the same problem definitely won't exist this time around.
On Monday, Baker and his team of 25 to 30 electricians will start the setup for
the festival.
They will wire all the booths to make sure power is running to each one. Once
the juice is flowing to each booth, Baker assured that there will be four or
five members of his team at the site in case a problem does surface
After the festival is over on Sunday, Baker and his crew of electrical experts
will tear everything down, pack it all back up in the trailers and then hang
around to discuss if there were any problems that arose that they will need to
fix for 2005.
''His work is great and we couldn't appreciate it more,'' said Frank Sipkovsky,
co-chairman of the Lorain International Bazaar.
''It's great of him to volunteer all of his time and services for this festival.
If it wasn't for his work and the work of the union members, the festival
wouldn't be the same,'' said Sipkovsky.
''Brian is a tremendous asset as well as his organization,'' said Bob Kerecz,
president of the Lorain International Association and chairman of the Bazaar.
''Since their involvement, they've been dedicated and concerned about the
festival and that everything is up to par. Brian's on our board of trustees and
that's why the IBEW has been nominated as this year's spotlight business
industry,'' said Kerecz.
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