NORMAN — Drivers in downtown Norman may notice a few places they can't go after midnight tonight, but it's for a pretty good reason.

The Norman Music Festival runs noon to 11:30 p.m. Saturday along a stretch of Main Street between the railroad tracks and the west side of Porter Avenue, or more specifically "the three historic blocks of downtown Main and the side streets of Crawford and Peters up to the alleys," Holly Jones of the Norman Arts Council said Thursday.

"The streets closure permit begins at 12 a.m. Saturday morning and that is when the barriers will be placed and the stages will begin setting (up)," Jones said.

"Vendor tents will begin to set up between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Saturday morning. The road closure ends 6 a.m. Sunday morning, April 27; everything needs to be packed up by that time."

Even though the festival is Saturday, Jones said the more volunteers available to help out, the better.

"They are trickling in but we still need more volunteers," Jones said. "There will be a volunteer orientation in the Norman Public Library. Those that are interested in volunteering should come to this meeting."

"It's 6:30 p.m. (today) in the Lowry Room," Rick Fry, volunteer coordinator for the festival, said of the orientation.

Jones noted one major last-minute change to the lineup of bands: "We lost Grupo Fantasma and added Skinfonia to the east stage."

As with any outdoor festival, some attendees will bring along a furry friend or two. Jones asked attendees to "please make sure all pets are on a leash and we encourage people to be responsible and carry some type of paper/plastic bags and gloves to discard their pets' solid waste in the trash cans. Make sure all pets have the appropriate identification/vaccination tags."

Responsible drinking and disposal of trash will be expected of Norman Music Festival attendees, too.

"We just ask everyone to be courteous to make sure they throw away their trash in the designated bins and that they don't take alcoholic beverages outside the festival perimeters," Jones said.

"There will be recycling bins located in the parking lot on the corner of Gray and Crawford and the Norman Arts Council encourages everyone to recycle their trash."

With an expected attendance in the tens of thousands, safety is a concern, and Jones said EMTs and Norman Regional staff will be stationed at the location marked with a red "X" on the map in case of emergency.

Also, for safety's sake, "the Norman Police and private security will be on site throughout the day to ensure the public's safety," she said.

And then there is, of course, the reason for the whole festival: The music. While big-name, internationally known acts like British Sea Power and Polyphonic Spree are expected to drive a good portion of the attendance at Saturday's festival, the reunion gig for '90s Norman music scene legends Chainsaw Kittens, who will take the stage at the corner of Main Street and Jones Avenue 8 p.m. Saturday, has been the subject of much discussion too.

“I've heard from them and from others there are people coming in from five or six states just to catch them," Norman Arts Council Executive Director Marta Burcham said. "It's really interesting, they've still got quite a following for not having played in eight or nine years."

An instrumental force in getting all the bands together for the festival is Andy Nunez, drummer for the Starlight Mints and owner and operator of Opolis.

Jones praised Nunez for using his connections in the music industry to draw in most of the bands performing at Saturday's festival.

While Nunez was unavailable for comment at press time, Opolis' Web site says the club will be open noon to 2 a.m. serving water, soda, beer and vegetarian food during and after Saturday's festival. In addition, the post-Norman Music Festival Blue Fish Companion XXI party will start after the Main West stage shuts down for the night (around 11:30 p.m.); acts will include Mama Sweet, Toil and Trouble and DJ Bronzai.

Adam Scott366-3533pop@normantranscript.com