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Blues and Jazz Festival loves its volunteers

June 1, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

“4 Stages – 90 Acts,” the Orangeville Blues and Jazz folder boasts. The folders are out everywhere, detailing the overall program of the Orangeville-wide-plus festival that brings thousands of visitors to town and involves so many of the people, businesses and spaces of this corner of the earth – rain or shine. This is the 15th annual Blues and Jazz Festival and music fans of many tastes are delighted to be part of it.

The folder is a compact handout telling the whole tale of where and when those 90 acts can be seen. Clubs and restaurants all around the neighbourhood open their doors to musicians over the whole three days this coming weekend, so wherever you go, you are going to have fun.

To begin with the finale, winding up the Sunday afternoon’s scheduling, on the Main Stage, a special appearance by “an all-star Canadian cast of award-winning blues and roots musicians.” Directed by Juno award winning Lance Anderson, they are “recreating the atmosphere of ‘The Band’s’ final concert ..[as] captured in …concert film, The Last Waltz.” …”featuring  Juno award winning Chuck Jackson, [along with] Jerome Levon Avis, [who is the godson of the original drummer of The Band, Levon Helm]; and Johnny Max.” This is a “musical celebration of “The Band.”

In a quick conversation with Larry Kurtz, founder and artistic director of the festival,  he remarked, “Sunday can be a quieter day and we just wanted to put on a big show at the end. To be part of Canada’s 150, we wanted to include this celebration of The Band. They were a Canadian band that was a big success and in the States too.”

Indeed, the big name stars of The Band are more a part of this group than might be thought: the original manager of the band, Bill Avis (and Jerome Levon Avis is his son), is coming to the festival. Chuck Anderson has produced a  Garth Hudson recording – he was the original keyboard player for The Band.

The weekend actually begins this evening (Thursday) at the Best Western with a Gala featuring a Jazz and a Blues bands. A ticketed evening, this officially opens the weekend with the music of the Festival, great food – it’s a party. If there are still tickets, you ask BookLore or Meridian. Possible tickets at the door.

For those of you who have never attended, there are stages in various places in town, featuring an impressive list of bands, each rigorously scheduled in order to include all 90 acts. So many of the musicians are local and it is a real tribute to the festival that the fine musicians in this area are included along withe the stars from around the country.

The Main Stage is located in Alexandra Park behind the townhall, which has been fenced off for the weekend to allow the consumption of  alcohol all over the park.

The TD Trust Tent right beside the park on Second Street is host to a likewise full schedule of entertainment.

The Opera House is included as a venue for Saturday and Sunday; there is a small daily admission of $5.00 for both the Opera House and the Main Stage performances.

A New Orleans-style march and the Bike Night happen on Saturday and the Blues Cruise is on Friday; the bands are playing all over the town and more.

Restaurants throughout Orangeville, Alton, Hockley and the brand new Kitchen in Mono Mills are opening their space to bands all weekend – this is a wonderful weekend to get out for a meal, a walk, really have a tremendous time with all the wonders of this fabulous festival.

Alright, exciting enough, but, like any such festival, running on a minimalistic budget, it could never happen without its volunteers. As the Blues and Jazz has grown, so too has its need not only for the help of volunteers but also for their organization.

“We run the festival on fresh air and very little money,” Alison Hird, the festival’s Volunteer Coordinator, told  us. “We’re very frugal,” she said.

Ms. Hird was invited into the festival administration to run the software to handle volunteer scheduling. It is no small job, for , over the three days, there are several departments where teams of volunteers each have specific areas and tasks to perform and their efficiency and reliability is extremely important.

And it takes all types.

Ms. Hird explained: “There can be long shifts of six hours – they get meal tickets for which we later pay the food vendors. The first team is the roustabout team that set up the infrastructure: tents, tables, lights, signs – all that sort of thing. It’s heavy work – we get a lot of high school students.

“Of course, the students have to do their 40 hours of volunteer work and, sometimes, they realize the year’s nearly over and they have to get those hours in. So, they can do a lot of hours with the festival but, then, they move on – they don’t necessarily come back other years.

“Retired people like to help as well and they are more consistent about returning.”

She wanted to be clear about this, though: “We are always open to having more people come on board.”

In order to facilitate engaging volunteers in the year 2017, it is now possible for an interested person to go online to www.orangevillebluesandjazz.ca and find the volunteer link. This year is a record for the festival with more than 200 people ready to help.

“Each of the stages has its own techie team for the Emcee, sound, lights,” said Ms Hird. “and again in the Opera House.” She counted them off: “there specific teams manning positions- there’s us at the volunteer command centre where we control the hours, meal tickets, answer the radio contact we have with them. There is the event security which is our eyes and ears on the ground.

“All the jobs are listed on the website. Once they’re filled, they are taken off.” She added, as an aside from the weekend of the festival: “We are looking for Board volunteers as well.”

With so much going on, there are needed a great many eyes and ears to see to it the whole thing runs smoothly.

For all its wild schedule, what appears just crazy must, in reality, be as sane and safe as possible. The volunteers play an essential role in this and they are deeply appreciated for their contribution.

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