Community Corner
Fall Fest: Volunteers are the Backbone and Heart of Event
About 200 individuals give of their time Labor Day weekend to make the annual fest a success.
One of volunteer Cheryl Howard's favorite jobs is that of streetwalker.
No, not that kind of streetwalker.
A fest streetwalker is someone assigned to a block of artisan booths who literally walks that street during fest hours, checking on the artisans, answering visitor questions or covering bathroom breaks for artisans working solo.
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In fact, even though she has been the volunteer chairwoman for most of her 27 years of fest involvement, Howard still walks a street every fest weekend and loves that she's gotten to know many of the artisans who return annually to their same booth location.
The Frankfort Fall Festival volunteer pool numbers close to 200, and while many return year after year, Howard said she makes an intentional effort to recruit new blood, too. This new blood often starts out as "bluebies," youth volunteers who wear easily identifiable blue shirts and work with adult supervision. However, Howard believes that after multiple years of service many of these teens could run the fest themselves.
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A new bluebie this year is Sarah Walton, whose mother, Leslie, grew up in Frankfort and served as a fest streetwalker in her teens. Sarah, 10, will provide the highly desirable "young legs" and be a runner for the fest office, making delivery errands to volunteers on the streets or to artisan booths. On Sunday, though, she'll don a costume and be a Munchkin in the annual Labor Day parade, the theme of which is Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
"This is going to be my first year volunteering," Sarah said.
"But I go every year and thought it would be fun to help out at the Fall Fest," she added.
Another new volunteer is Teresa Hoffmann, a foreign exchange student who stayed with the Walton family last year, returned home to Germany but came back this summer to visit.
"I'm from Munich, so it was really neat to see the fest and be in Frankfort with the German background. It'll be interesting to see how well I can direct people, but I'm excited," Hoffmann said.
As much as she values the new blood, Howard also is encouraged when volunteers step up to the next level in leadership. Frankfort resident Gayla Smith had such a great time as a streetwalker last year that she increased her commitment and became a block captain for 2011.
"I'll be at the fest every day for a few hours," said Smith, who will spend the bulk of her time Friday on set up and Monday on take down of the artisan booths on her block. "It doesn't seem like a lot of time because it's so much fun. The time passes so fast."
And then there are the lifers, like Sue Walker, who started volunteering in 1984, the same year as Howard. Like Howard, she's done a little bit of everything over the years, from serving funnel cakes to chairing the entire festival. This year she'll be overseeing Communications, which is the behind-the-scenes headquarters for the festival.
During her volunteer tenure, Walker helped create the parade junior marshal position, which was awarded through an essay contest in the local schools, as well as the commemorative festival license plates, which feature a yellow background to honor the yellow-shirted volunteer corps.
"I stay involved with the fest because I enjoy it and have made many friends over the years," said Walker, whose four grandchildren will also be volunteering this year.
Howard echoes Walker's reasons but added that she hopes people see the fest's huge volunteer pool (the chamber volunteer numbers don't include the individual organizations who recruit volunteers to run the food booths and entertainment tent) as an inspiration to do something that matters in your community.
"Especially if you move into a really good community, you give something really good back," she said.
In fact, Howard has no plans to stop giving and making a difference any time soon.
"Heck, we've got the nursing home right here (in town). I can come out in my wheelchair and do the parking lot," she said, chuckling.
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