Snap on your seatbelts. The Northern Alberta International Children’s Festival is about to spring into warp drive. Or at least that’s the way it feels down at volunteer manager Nina Browton’s desk.
It’s exactly one month to the much anticipated five-day St. Albert festival running June 1 to 5 where even the tiniest kids rule. And the pressure is on to attract about 650 volunteers to operate the carnival-like festivities.
The volume of traffic ranges from 55,000 to 60,000 visitors and at this point only 275 people have volunteered. To demystify any and all aspects of the outdoor festival, Browton has organized a Volunteer Orientation for Tuesday, May 4 at 7 p.m. in the Arden Theatre.
“This is a good opportunity for volunteers who have no clear idea of what the festival is about. We can give them the full scope. It’s really an information session,” says Browton.
There are positions available for every age, interest and personality type. The heaviest volunteer load is needed at activity sites manning craft areas and mini-events, and face painters that juggle line-ups that stretch up to 10 metres or more.
The hospitality staff spend their shift slicing and dicing snacks for artists and volunteers while drivers burn up the asphalt running errands.
Some of the frontline volunteers are ushers, merchandise sellers and registration attendants who are often pegged to answer questions from passersby and direct patrons to festival sites.
“I’m finding people are more interested in providing short-term commitments. And that’s what makes the festival so attractive.”
To streamline the volunteer process, the festival website is now accepting applications online at www.childfest.com. This is the first year organizers have implemented online registration and they estimate it will decrease data entry by 80 per cent.
To date about 250 electronic applications have been submitted compared to 25 paper forms. “The beauty of it is you can do it any time of the day and if your schedule changes you can make the changes yourself in the system.”
Volunteer perks include a festival t-shirt, and free refreshments and snacks. Browton has also organized a volunteer appreciation evening with a special concert by Vietnam’s Khac Chi Bamboo Music on Thursday, June 3 at 7 p.m. in the Standard General Tent.
“In past years we had our volunteer recognition after the festival. But we found people got so busy with other things like soccer that they didn’t make it. So while we have a captive audience, let’s recognize them.”
Browton has worked with festival volunteers for 10 years, and year-after-year she’s blown away by the dedicated community that step ups up to the plate whether it rains or shines.
“They [volunteers] love to be around kids and believe in providing the best service to our guests. We see that from their willingness to take extra shifts and go above and beyond. It’s awesome.”
The minimum age to volunteer is 12 years and youth must have parental consent. Each shift is three to four hours and activities vary from 45-60 minutes. For more information call the volunteer hotline at 780-459-1522.
