The Kootenay Children’s Festival needs some help.
The festival, which is going on 30 years in Cranbrook, is in need of additional volunteer directors to help organize the event and take care of behind-the-scenes details.
Jim Shepherd, one of the main organizers behind the event, said the pool of volunteers is starting to dwindle at an alarming rate.
Money isn’t an issue; Shepherd said the organization is currently well-funded, but the group needs more manpower to organize the festival.
“We’re sort of left with nobody on our committee and we need people coming in, joining up and being part of it so we have a rotation of younger people,” said Shepherd.
“It’s not a huge amount of work, there are about five monthly meetings and depending on what you do, there’s probably only another eight or 10 hours involved throughout the year of organizing or being a part of it.”
The festival, held out on the Mount Baker Secondary School field on the weekend before mother’s day in May, is free of charge for kids and families. who can come down and experience children’s entertainment with free face-painting and cookies.
“It’s fun. We bring in entertainers from around the province, as well as local entertainers,” said Shepherd. “Totally free, it’s probably the last free festival in the province left. They don’t have to pay for anything.”
There are a few monthly meetings leading up to the festival, but the organization isn’t all that time-consuming, according to Shepherd.
“We have to have people to help organize it, carry a bit of the burden. It’s not a big burden—I’ve done it for 27 years now, and every year they add a little bit more to what I’m doing,” he said.
Anyone interested in helping out can contact Shepherd at 250-489-5597. The next meeting Jan. 22 at the community living building.