“Busy” and “exciting” are how Joy Cox, Cary’s festivals coordinator, describes the event. A better word might be overwhelming.

Consider the numbers: five blocks along Chatham and Academy streets lined with 370 vendors; 40 public works staff; about 20 police officers; 15 parks and recreation staff; 120 volunteers; about 10 firefighters; 21 entertainment acts; 28 nonprofits; 100 trash cans; 14 buses making some 2,000 trips; and six Town of Cary information booths.

And that doesn’t include the nearly 60,000 people expected to attend the festival on Saturday. Cox said that planning such a large event requires flexibility. “If we need to stuff envelopes, everyone is willing to stuff envelopes,” she said.

Lauren Polak, a temporary town employee, agreed that everyone has to do “a little bit of everything.” As someone who studied art at N.C. State University, Polak said she enjoys the work. “I’m an artsy-craftsy person,” she said.

On a typical day, Polak might deliver artwork for the Lazy Daze T-shirts, design brochures and act as a liaison to concessionaires.

Then, of course, there is the envelope stuffing.

The woman responsible for organizing the army of volunteers is Katie Crain. Crain said that the town has a large volunteer database that it draws from. “It’s just like a wedding where you send out more invites than you expect to respond,” she said.

Volunteers, she added, do everything from sitting in booths while artists grab a snack or take a bathroom break to assisting with set-up and break down. The town has had a good response to their call for help, Crain said, including a woman coming from Lancaster, Pa., to volunteer.

Crain said she does not mind the hassle of bringing Lazy Daze together. “Things that would drive other people crazy, I just love it. I love shutting down a street and throwing up a tent,” she said.

Safety is always a concern when large crowds come to town, so the police and fire departments are also in on the planning.

Deputy Fire Chief Jay Poole said that leading up to the festival the fire department has to ensure that vendors are not violating fire codes. Because fire trucks cannot easily navigate through the festival, Poole said the fire department will have two quick-response, all-terrain vehicles “strategically located” at the event. “We’re also kind of like a vendor,” Poole said. “We do puppet shows about fire safety for the kids.” Police Lt. Tracy Jernigan said that past festivals have been incident free.

Nonetheless, Cary will still “provide a police presence,” Jernigan said. “We have a command post with a regular dispatcher,” he said.

The department also formulates an operations plan, Jernigan said, and everyone involved in planning Lazy Daze meets two weeks before the event to make sure they are all on the same page. He also said that a crime prevention officer sets up a vendor booth and the Citizens Assisting Police team will help keep everyone in line at the Cary Towne Center shuttle bus stop. “It’s always been a good and smoothly run festival,” he said.

Cox hopes the pattern holds this year. “That last week is me in the street” — supervising as the area gets spruced up, vendor spaces are marked off and numbered and a final walk through is conducted. On Friday, she said, artists come all night long to set up. She’s back before sunrise on Saturday, at 4:30. Between 6 and 9 a.m. are the busiest times.

“I like to get past that nine o’clock hump,” she said. Then she can relax a little.

So how long does all this take to organize? “I’ve actually already started planning for next year,” Cox said.