Nancy Gonce shined an Alabama Bright Light with the W.C. Handy Music Festival
Nancy Gonce dedicates much of her time to making Florence and the Muscle Shoals area a more vibrant, enjoyable place to live and visit. (Karim Shamsi-Basha/Alabama NewsCenter)
Nancy Gonce is a soft-spoken woman.
She wouldn’t strike you as someone who spearheaded the W.C. Handy Music Festival for years. Thirty-five years ago, though, Gonce was on the original board that created the Music Preservation Society, the organization that hosts the festival. It has gone from a weekend to 10 days and has become an internationally recognized event.
“It was wonderful. I got to meet incredibly talented musicians, both local and national, and I got to bring together the entire community,” said Gonce, who served on the board for 10 years before becoming the festival’s executive director. “Three counties are now involved with more than 200 events. Our best estimate is about 250,000 people come and participate over the 10 days.”
Alabama Bright Light: Soft-spoken Nancy Gonce brings a lot of festivity to Shoals area from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Gonce, who retired from her festival position last year, told me her story at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library. She’s the kind of woman who deflects the spotlight and shines it onto others. She kept getting me to meet the library staff and asked me to write about them. I had to say, “But Nancy, this story is about you!” She finally relented.
Gonce told me about her decades of volunteering and helping different causes around the Muscle Shoals area, where she loves the people and the place.
“My project now is to be a part of the Florence Bicentennial Celebration, which will be celebrated in 2018,” she said. “For that whole year, we will be commemorating different aspects of the city’s heritage. Beginning in March, each month we will focus on a different aspect of Florence: music, art, literature, education, Native American culture and much more.”
Gonce has worked as a volunteer with other festivals in the Muscle Shoals area, including the Helen Kelller Festival and the Native American Festival. She loves that the area is dedicated to celebrating its heritage.
For someone to volunteer for a few years with a cause or two is wonderful, but for someone to volunteer for many causes for almost four decades, that would be on the selfless side of things. I asked Gonce why she does this. She looked at me as if to say, “What else would I do?”
“I do all of this because it’s my home, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to be a part of the culture and the heritage of this community,” Gonce said.
We could all learn from Nancy Gonce. Just ask yourselves, “What else could I do?”
The W.C. Handy Music Festival concludes Sunday, July 30, in Muscle Shoals. For information, visit http://www.wchandymusicfestival.org/festival.htm.
For information on the Florence Bicentennial Celebration, visit https://www.facebook.com/florencebicentennial/.
Alabama Bright Lights captures the stories, through words, pictures and video, of some of our state’s brightest lights who are working to make Alabama an even better place to live, work and play. Award-winning journalist Karim Shamsi-Basha tells their inspiring stories. Email him comments, as well as suggestions on people to profile, at karimshamsibasha@gmail.com.
