By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Black Swamp Arts Festival is fueled by volunteer labor.
Ten days from opening at 5 p.m. Friday Sept 6, it’s time for the festival to top off its tank. It takes about 700 volunteers to run the festival which will be held Friday through Sunday at 5 p.m. Click for festival hours.
Emily Keegan, co-chair of the festival’s volunteers committee, said the event still has specific needs.
Those are:
Artist set up on Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1-4 p.m.
Local artist set up on Saturday 5:15-9:15 a.m.
Set up the chairs and tables in the Main Stage area and beer garden, 9 a.m. to noon.
Youth and teen art, throughout the weekend
Merchandise and ID check throughout the weekend.
“It’s not awful,” she said. She’s confident the week of the festival people will step up.
BGSU students have taken on a larger role in the past few years, Keegan, who is in her third year co-chairing volunteer recruitment with Anne McLaughlin, said that more students are fulfilling service expectations by helping out with the fest.
They join a tradition set by the Chapman Learning Community, with the leadership of Brett Holden, which has helped kids tie-dye shirts for years. The rugby team turns up on Sunday to pack up the tables and chairs in the Main Stage and Beer Garden.
For community members, “it’s an amazing opportunity to be part of a Bowling Green institution,” Keegan said. “We don’t think of BG without the arts festival.
“We invite back all the folks who’ve helped us the last two decades and people who have have never tried it to stick their toe in and feel the vibrancy of our community and maybe meet some people they’ve never met before.”
