Hi all,
Been a while since my last post.
Nothing much has happened between the last post & this one, with the exception of the music fest which was this weekend from Friday, August 4/2023 to Sunday, August 6/2023.
Went out on Wednesday, August 2/2023 for the music fest to begin volunteering even though I wasn’t on schedule until Friday. I did end up doing some shifts on Wednesday & Thursday because I asked if there was anything I could do. Wednesday I went out to the Camping/ Parking area & helped out with camper registration & such, & later was sent down to the water fill station for the campers coming in to relieve the person there before me. Got there & it turns out he didn’t need relief, because he just showed up there for a shift too. Got along with him perfectly fine & also got to hear some good tunes during the shift as he had a small-ish portable speaker along with him. Not many people needed water, because I’m assuming most people towed their trailers out with the water tanks already full.
Thursday was basically the same, except I started at 3:30 PM at camper registration & was sent down to water fill again. This time there was someone who needed relief, & unfortunately I was by myself this time. Only about 3-4 trailers showed up for water, & then 1-2 people needing water for water jugs & such. I also did get brought food around 7 PM, which was a slice of pizza (damn good pizza), bag of Cheetos, an Apple & a bottle of water. After the water fill shift was over, I ended up heading over to a good friend’s trailer, since I was invited to come visit later that night when this person showed up, & I was still on the water fill shift. Visited & hungout with them until 12:30 AM that night when they turned in for the night.
Come Friday, I slept in a little bit later then Thursday, since I was scheduled for a shift on Friday originally. This shift was security, as a volunteer, & was from 5 PM to 11 PM. As a volunteer, the “job” ended up being checking for wristbands as people were coming in, along with watching for people walking out/ trying to walk out with any type of alcohol container (Alcohol wasn’t allowed in or out, regardless if it was empty or not) & also redirecting people who tried to re-enter through the exit. End of the night as people were leaving was primarily watching for alcohol being brought out. When people were walking out, quite a few tried walking out with alcohol containers (empty, half full, 3/4 full), but they were stopped quickly. One person walked out with a container (in my opinion) hidden under his jacket, so I ended up catching up to him & stopping him. He drank the rest of it, gave me the empty, & claimed he wasn’t trying to hide/ conceal it, even though from my point of view when I saw it & in my opinion, that was clearly being concealed.
Saturday shift was from 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM & was caretaking in the food truck area, which was basically keeping the area tidy, which wasn’t difficult. It was basically a lot of walking around & multiple trips back to the volunteer “command” trailer for breaks in the shade since it was fairly hot outside. After that shift ended, I changed out & enjoyed the festival & waited until the headliner Kim Mitchell that night, as I knew a few of his songs & got a few on video & then also got the fireworks on video this night. When people were walking out that night, one person was very determined to bring his alcohol out with him. Final resolution, was it didn’t go out. On the way back to our trailer, the volunteer in charge of parking, camping & shuttle asked if I could do shuttle since he was short. I said sure, & ended up doing about 4-5 trips with people, & then at 11:30 PM on the way back to the pick up point, the same person basically said to head back & park the carts.
Sunday shift was security again, from 12:30 PM to 5:30 PM, doing the same as before. When I showed up for the shift, I was politely told by someone working with the security company (in a supervisor role), that my main role is checking for wristbands, so I focused on that, along with the occasional redirecting people to the entrance. A bit later, I was asked by one of their staff, to also keep an eye out for alcohol going out as well. I had caught 1-2 people prior to her saying this, & I do recall her saying thank you. I did politely say I was told to only check for wristbands earlier, but then she politely said, she knows, but please keep an eye out for alcohol for when they’re all busy checking bags & can’t keep an eye on the exit as well. So I did that too. There was only 2-3 of them at the entrance at this point, & no one specifically at the exit, so I kept an eye out for that as well.
Sunday shift did go a bit later, & around 5:55 PM, I ended up quickly walking out to the ticket booth & borrowing their radio to call the volunteer coordinator & ask if there was anyone on the way to relieve me. Took a few mins, but when she got back to me, I was told there isn’t anyone & that it’s okay if I just leave. I said thank you & gave the radio back. Another volunteer, who was chatting with the ticket booth volunteers, said she can be my relief, since she finished her shift earlier then expected. I politely said it’s up to her & as I walked away I heard her ask for the radio so she could call the volunteer coordinator & clear that with her. She did end up taking over for the rest of the night.
They also had a big volunteer photo again this year around 6:30 PM. The 2 people doing the announcing for the festival (MC I believe is the term?) gave shoutouts to the volunteers multiple times over the weekend, & when the picture was being taken, also a shoutout to the park staff & all the volunteers again. Hopefully the picture will be posted somewhere. The last & 1st time a volunteer picture was taken, was the 2019 music fest.
My next shift on Sunday was 10 PM to 12 AM, basically locking stuff up, but when I checked in, I was never told where to go for this, so ended up not doing this shift. I ended up signing out a radio for a bit & went to the festival entrance as people walked out. One person pulling a wagon with a chair strapped down with tarp straps had a bunch (5-6) of empties at the bottom of the wagon. Wasn’t to pleased when he had to unstrap the chair so we could grab the empties. Also claimed that someone else put them in the wagon & also said “of course they aren’t here now” when he got stopped & was told those empties can’t come out. He was not to happy he had to re-strap down his chair again A few other people were shocked & somewhat mad the alcohol couldn’t leave with them, because they were supposedly told it could. Also ended up being asked to give a shuttle ride by 1 volunteer up to the volunteer camping area, after 11:30 PM. Got the keys to a cart with bright lights (I specifically asked for a key to a cart with bright lights). Was sitting there waiting for 2 volunteers who also wanted a ride since I asked if anyone else wanted a ride & they said they did, & after about probably 10 mins, decided to just go since they hadn’t shown up yet. In the trip up there, met them already halfway up the hill. Turns out they thought the shuttle had left already, because they looked over & didn’t see any lights on & thought they missed it. So, they hopped on & I brought them up the rest of the way, & brought the original volunteer who asked for a ride, right to their trailer.
On the way back down, ran into another volunteer, who asked for a ride, so he hopped on & I turned around & brought him up to the volunteer area as well. On the way back down, stopped at the mini donut trailer (who was still open that late because they still had product they didn’t want to waste) & got a bag of mini donuts for $8. Returned the shuttle cart & the key & headed back to my trailer for the night.
Monday, I had no shifts at all & slept in later then I did on Saturday & Sunday. Walked up to the volunteer trailer later & just sat & visited with some volunteers. Didn’t ask for anything to do, because we planned on leaving for home soon. Also learned of things that happened overnight, but I will not be posting them here.
Since so much happened over the weekend, & if by some chance any of the volunteers come across this post, I will note, that all reported missing kids were found safe & sound, & the 1 lost kid (that I know of) was brought back to his parents/ guardians.
Anyways, 2023 Music Fest is in the books. Honestly, kinda sad it’s already come & gone since it’s my personal “unofficial” end of summer event. I am happy to have met & worked with some new people who I got along with great & also got to see people I worked with last year. Volunteer appreciation is scheduled for Sept. 9/2023 from what I have heard, so hopefully I’ll see some familiar faces at the appreciation & hopefully they will return next year.
On an unrelated music fest note, earlier this year, on Canada Day weekend, during a conversation one person said I should try come visit them, (I’m guessing over winter time, since they are/ were always out at the park on the weekends). I didn’t really know what to say, but I did think to myself that I will try & make that happen, but I won’t make any promises since it’s entirely possible I won’t be able to keep that promise. If by some chance you read this post, you hopefully remember this conversation on Canada Day weekend when the movie was being setup & will know who you are, since I do not name anyone in my blog posts at all.
I shall try my best to post more frequently, but when there’s nothing to post about at all, that’s when the time between posts gets longer & longer.
That’s all for now at 9:37 PM on August 7/2023.
Until next time….. or the first edit. 😛
~ KN1IGHT
Paul Hensel's Blog 