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Murray deals with City Hall, because, "I think I've built up quite a good rapport with the city people."
They share a litany of other tasks - getting vendors, no parking signs and barricades "that (people) ignore anyway."
They need permits galore -one for the festival, one for live music, one to close The Avenue and another to hang banners over the street.
They must reroute Maryland Transit Administration buses for the day, too. One year, Murray forgot, and buses coming up Chestnut Avenue toward 36th Street were surprised to see toilet race contestants barreling toward them.
There are also portable restrooms to rent and liability insurance to buy, stages to get from the city and little ramps to find that go over cable wires near the stages so that people won't trip over the wires. There are T-shirts, posters, tents, tables and chairs to rent, too.
Last year, on Hampdenfest morning, the city-owned stages were stuck in the mud at Druid Hill Park from a prior event there, and didn't arrive on The Avenue until noon, Murray said.
And there are sponsorships to secure for an event that costs $15,000 each year.
M&T Bank is a longtime sponsor, as is Falkenhan's hardware store in Hampden and Rotunda mall owner Hekemian & Co., Murray said.
Murray tries to keep the festival's community vibe -down to the microbreweries that she taps as vendors for Hampdenfest, including Union Craft Brewery, a new business in Woodberry.
"We can always get larger corporate sponsors, but we prefer to keep it independent," Murray said.
"That's the shape of Hampden."
Now, Murray has had enough of organizing the fest.
"Four years is a good long stint," she said. She wants to expand her business and spend more time with her son, Drew, a fourth-grader at a school she would not name, and her husband, Jeffrey, who she said is now starting a business of his own involving tribal drums.
She said she will probably "shadow" whoever takes over as organizer.
"I'll foist it off on someone deserving," she said.
And she said what she would say the next day in the middle of Hampdenfest.
"I'm tired," she said.
