The Sustainable Ballard Festival is just a few weeks away, and the organizers are putting a request out for volunteers. There’s a whole host of ways to get involved with the festival, happening Sept. 29 (11 a.m. – 6 p.m.) at the Ballard Commons Park. “With tons of activities to choose from–everything from working with local chefs to helping kids make sock puppets to joining our “waste management mafia”–there’s something fun for everyone,” organizer Eric Thomas tells us. Most of the shifts are typically 2-3 hours, and include a free t-shirt, access to the volunteer lounge with snacks, and sneak previews of the weekend’s activities. If you’re interested in volunteering, click here for the sign-up page.
They’re looking for help in the following areas:
Before the festival:
- Work Parties – Have an artistic bent? Help batik pendants, A Taste of Ballard banner, silkscreen new t-shirts, spray mount signs, prepare and procure decorations for festival, etc.
- Publicity – Distribute flyers, posters and event guides to all your favorite coffeeshops and businesses in the neighborhood and beyond.
- Planning Teams – Join a planning team for one of the following areas to help co-create the layout and decorations and decide what demonstrations and hands-on activities it will include: Movement Zone, Green Home Area, The Urban Farm, Arts in the Library, Transportation Zone, Chef Demo Stage, Kids Zone, “Surprise!” Team, Photo/Video Team.
Set-up Crews – Join the crews that help set up the bones of the event that are key to festival enjoyment.
- Electrical Crew (3 people) – help dig small trenches and lay extension cords in Ballard Commons Park on Sept 28th. During the festival – be on call to support electrical needs of stages and exhibitors.
- Stage Building Crew (3-4 people) – meet a week or so before the fest and pre-assemblestage pieces, assemble stage on-site the day before (Sept 28th)
- Decorations Crew (3-5 people) – Use what we’ve got and figure out new ways to make the park colorful and attractive.
- Oversight – like being in charge? We’ll orient you beforehand and then you train volunteers and make sure everything is running smoothly for your team. In the following areas: Sopranos (waste management), Volunteer Check-In, Sponsor Check-In, Merchandise, Taste of Ballard, Stages, Activity Areas.
At the festival:
- Volunteer Check In – Welcome and Check in volunteers as they arrive at the info table, give them their info and materials they will need for their jobs.
- Greeter – Welcome festival-goers with a festival guide, answer questions, count and poll attendees about how they got to the festival, enforce traffic barricades.
Area Staff – Sign up to help out in any of the areas listed under “planning teams” above plus the following:
- Taste of Ballard family dining area (16 people) – Help out in this exciting new addition to the Festival! Check IDs, Pour beer samples, keep clean, help coordinate/manage area. Some crew will need alcohol server permits. Taste of Ballard volunteers take longer shifts and get extra perks.
- Local Food & Water Area – show off the 100 mile diet map, good bug-bad bug, how much water did it take to produce this?, vegetable toss, etc.
- Info/Merchandise – Direct people, hand out materials, answer questions, staff merchandise table, take money, make change.
- The Sopranos (6 people) – be the waste management mafia – learn what goes where and be ruthless about making sure festival discards are sorted properly. Dark suit and sunglasses anyone?
- Festival Closing – help take down, clean and pack up tents, tables, equipment, decorations,etc. Put things away neatly for next year.
After the festival:
- Volunteer Appreciation – help plan and get donations for Post-Festival appreciation party.
Sign up here, or contact volunteer@sustainableballard.org to get on the list of festival volunteers.
