Each summer, 150,000 to 200,000 people attend the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Huge crowds stroll down South Allen Street for five days in July, wandering in and out of the multicolored booths that line the sidewalks, enjoying the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the festival.

For the most part, not one of these people will think for even one second about the work that goes into setting up the festival, the people that work all year long to make it happen or the man in charge of it all.

Philip Walz couldn't be happier about that.

Walz, the festival's executive director since 1991, is the chief artistic, administrative and financial officer -- essentially, the man behind the curtain who runs the entire show.

"I am ultimately responsible for the festival professionally," Walz said. "I am responsible for ensuring that it comes off, is a success in all of its varied arts presentations and . . . reflects positively on the University and the community."

Arts festivals around the country have one of two types of executive directors. Some of the richer festivals choose a well-known artist or musician to be executive director to lend credibility and to draw larger crowds. The downside of this is that if the director leaves, the reputation of the festival is severely hurt, Walz said.

For this festival, the director is primarily a business manager with a solid background in the arts. By not being part of the festival itself, the director doesn't detract from the other artists, Walz said.

Linda Gall, Arts Festival board of directors president, said Walz has turned out to be an excellent choice as the executive director.

"Phil is exactly the right person for the job," Gall said, as the terms enthusiasm, commitment and creative popped up to describe him. "I think he's done an extraordinary job."

Walz, however, downplays his importance in helping to create a festival that ranks in the top 20 shows of its type, according to Sunshine Artists Magazine.

"Our job, as I see it here, is to select the best and the most exciting that we can afford to present and then let the work speak for itself," he said. "It's basically for that reason that I seek to play a low profile."

Walz, with his clean-cut looks and average businessman's uniform of a suit and tie, works hard to keep that low profile -- but he works equally as hard at promoting the festival. His love of the arts and his wish to spread that love to the public are two of the driving forces in his life and his job.

"For a portion of (the festival's) audience, this is their arts fix for the year," he said. "We have a responsibility and an opportunity to expose people to things they normally would not go out and see. If we can jump start certain interests . . . if there's something that they taste test that they really like and we motivate some interest in that area -- well, that's super, I couldn't be happier."

That spark of creativity is the single most important gift a person can receive, he said. The Arts Festival is a vehicle with which Walz can give that gift to as many people as possible.

For someone who loves the arts as much as Walz does (he has loved them all his life -- he's a classically trained pianist who graduated cum laude from the University of New Hampshire's music school,) a switch to working as a business manager doesn't seem to make sense. To Walz, however, it makes perfect sense.

No matter what job a person has, some level of creativity is necessary, Walz said. The Arts Festival itself is a business in competition with other arts festivals. Walz said he has to be creative in coming up with ways to make this festival more attractive to the best artists than competitors' festivals.

The creative ideas the festival uses range from things as simple as making sure the artists are comfortable while in the area to providing a booth-sitting service when an artist must leave to shuttling artists from the festival site to their vehicles.

"The most successful businessmen are creative people, regardless of whether you're selling insurance, lumber or pet rocks," Walz said. "If you're not someone who can think dynamically or creatively, you're at a distinct disadvantage."

The crossover from Walz' love of arts to his life as a businessman began during his college days. In 1978, Walz founded the New Hampshire Gentlemen, a glee club that is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. Walz was the club's "pitch" (conductor within the band) as well as its business manager. Normally, the two jobs are held by different people, but as the founder, Walz held both.

"I found that I really enjoyed the management side," he said. "Not only did I enjoy it, but I liked it better than the conducting side," he added laughing.