OK, let's just get this out of the way. Bennett Thurmon is one of the nicest, community-minded people in the South Sound. That isn't hyperbole or a writer's way to get around writing a lead before getting into the heart of the story. It is the truth. The National Academy of Weights and Measures confirmed it with a precise "community focus" density scale.

 

Most folks not directly involved in the community arts community might not know him since he is sort of a behind-the-scenes guy for a few things that make Tacoma a home to a growing arts community. Most notably he is the man behind the First Night celebration on New Year's Eve.

 

And it all started more than a decade ago when he was working a corporate job with a Chicago-based aerospace company that currently has a chunk of its workforce on strike.

He was a computer programmer and trainer. He wanted something different, so he left the under appreciative world of corporate America for the stable and lucrative world of event and arts promotion.

 

"I just up and quit," he said. "It (was) a decision I made over the weekend. I'm sure my wife thought I was crazy, but I haven't starved since. I really don't know how I got here."

 

He ran Wrecking Ball Records for a while and did a stint as Dale Chihuly's lackey. Mixed in between the years of then and now are several years of work with the Executive Council for a Greater Tacoma. Then there were the years as the director of the Commencement Art Gallery, organizer of the summer concerts at Marymoor and the summer concerts at the Chateau, as well as the event organizer of the Foss Waterway Seaport, where he promised 2,200 people for the group's maritime event and five times that number came through the doors.

 

It was during those events that he found himself with the who's who of the arts world.

 

"I've eaten chocolate cake with Robert Plant," he said. "I've had the B-52s in my Subaru. It was surreal."

 

All the elbow rubbing with the stars hasn't made him turn more Tinsel town than T-town. He is as local as they come, despite the fact that he has a 206 cell phone number. That annoyance came about only because he has had the number before the 253 area code was created. While it might seem like callers are dialing long distance, his heart connected to that phone is very much local, born at Tacoma General Hospital and graduated from Wilson High School.

 

First Night Tacoma-Pierce County is a community and family-oriented, alcohol free, New Years Eve celebration of the arts. Revelers enjoy — and in some cases join in — the multiple, simultaneous and continuous performances of music, dance, song, storytelling, theater, film and multi-media presentations. Part of the magic and mystery of First Night is the unexpected places that are transformed through the artists' creative energy. That's why performance sites range from the grand to the eccentric; the historic Pantages Theater to parking garages and street corners. The evening concludes with a spectacular countdown to midnight at Pierce Transit Main Stage! First Night is a celebration of the arts and our community that just so happens to take place on "The First Night of the New Year."

 

This year's event is expected to draw 20,000 people to Tacoma's downtown starting at 6 p.m. and running to midnight.