MOOSE JAW — The 73rd annual Moose Jaw Band and Choral Festival is around the corner and organizers are desperate for physically capable volunteers to help move heavy items like musical equipment, stands and chairs.
The Band City is hosting 112 groups from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta during this year’s festival, which runs from Sunday, May 11 to Thursday, May 15.
Concert bands will perform from May 12 to 15 at the Mae Wilson Theatre, A.E. Peacock Centennial Auditorium and Hillcrest Apostolic Church, choirs will perform May 13 to 15 at Zion United Church and jazz bands will perform May 13 to 15 at St. Aidan Anglican Church.
Janie Fries, festival committee chairwoman, said she regularly makes a pitch to the public about volunteering when promoting the event, especially for people to help move equipment, but never receives a response.
The committee has approached the Kinsmen Club — which organized the festival from 1950 to 1994 — about lending a hand, but it is focused on other projects and cannot assist, she continued. Members have also asked retired teachers to volunteer their strength but received no responses.
The festival chairwoman pointed out that the type of volunteers required are those with a flexible schedule and who are physically fit — so, retirees or high school students with spares — and can move heavy equipment, from musical instruments to arranging chairs and stands.
Roles on the organizing committee are already filled, and while those members’ presence is similar to pieces of a puzzle coming together, “there’s this big hole in the middle of the puzzle” without moving crews, Fries chuckled.
She noted that if the festival ever ceased, it would be because the multi-day event lacked the necessary heavy-lifting teams.
Of the venues the festival is using, several require crews to set up and tear down chairs and stands and help bring in equipment, said Fries. Moreover, crews are required to haul instruments to the Crescent Park Amphitheatre for Moosic in the Park, which occurs on Tuesday, May 13 and Wednesday, May 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
“Let’s face it, (some instruments are) heavy … and you don’t want (them) falling off the truck,” she chuckled. “It’s expensive equipment as well, so it has to be transported carefully.”
Interested volunteers would be required to help set up for about an hour on Saturday, May 10, for one to two hours on Sunday, May 11 at Hillcrest Apostolic Church, and one to two hours on Monday, May 12 at the amphitheatre and St. Aidan Anglican Church. Crews would also be needed to dismantle on Thursday, May 15 starting around 2:30 p.m.
“And it sounds like a dog’s breakfast for a schedule, and it really is, it really is,” added Fries. “And sometimes it’s subject to change because maybe the facility that we’re renting, we can’t get in at that time or an hour later is a better time.
“There’s just so many moving parts to this … . Even a few people would help.”
Meanwhile, Fries said planning has gone well and organizers are impressed with having 112 groups, the most to ever attend the festival. She noted that this event is needed since it’s the only spring festival that students in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have the opportunity to attend.
Anyone interested in volunteering to move heavy equipment and instruments can email [email protected] or call 306-681-3850.
Visit www.mjbandandchoral.org for more details about the festival.
