OD, great of you to do all that leg work. I think I'm going over on Mon. the 3rd. Last year, the volunteers had their last meeting the Tue. before, a party Wed., and the locals kicked the festival off on Thu. Fri. I was at Florbama at 10am working I think untill 11pm that night. Well, with a few hours off after lunch and before the7pm evening show. I want to stay for the 10 day festival, but I'm still working on that.
As I recall, the Regatta is about 10-15 min. from Florbama, but it is all 4 lane road to get there. AND, don't forget, Florbama is not the only place for MAB's music. There are I think 2 or 3 places between Regatta and Florbama, more the other side of there, and even some up on the north side of the river/bay.
Kevin, I think MAB needs to address your question better than me. The Florbama is "the center" of the festival. BUT, it is 5-35 min. CAR drive from the other venues. Actually, most if not all of the writers will be at Florbama at least one night. There are 3 stages there, and every night 2 of them host the writers. Upstairs is a listening room envronment, and downstairs is more open. AND, a LOT of the writers come to the Florbama between around 11am-2pm for lunch. IF YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER, you can chat with some great writers at lunch. There is an afternoon open mic there that is open to everyone if you want to take that in. You may even be able to meet some of the writers there.
phil g.