By TOM GERROW
BG Independent News
The Black Swamp Arts Festival – Bowling Green’s social event of the season – is just around the corner, rolling into town the second weekend of September. The festival, which is free to attend, is a massive undertaking every year, and hundreds of volunteers are crucial to the event’s success.
“Volunteers are absolutely the fuel behind the festival,” said Kat Williams, chair of the BSAF’s volunteer committee. “Sometimes volunteers are incredibly visible, but there are so many volunteers behind the scenes that you might not even know are helping keep the festival going. So absolutely, it’s a 100 percent volunteer-run event.”
The Black Swamp Arts Festival has 655 volunteer slots, covering everything from setup to teardown, with IDs to check and beer to serve, merch to sell, teen arts to manage, and hospitality to provide to participating bands and artists. Many of the slots are filled, but more help is needed.
Volunteer for the Black Swamp Arts Festival
“We definitely still have plenty of opportunities for people to volunteer really any day of the festival,” Williams said. The festival runs from Friday, Sept. 11 through Sunday, Sept. 13.
Most volunteer slots involve a 2 to 2 ½ hour time commitment – though it’s not uncommon for volunteers to find themselves enjoying the work and helping out a bit longer.
“I like to say there’s really an opportunity that fits anyone’s specific volunteer style,” Williams added. “So if someone wants to do some heavy lifting, there’s great setup opportunities. Or if they want to help in a lower-key way, we have some artist hospitality opportunities to help those visiting artists. There’s really an opportunity for anyone.”
Vera Stormer found her volunteer role at the merchandise table for the bands, where she has been volunteering for about 20 years. Stormer started out volunteering a couple shifts per day at the merch tent, but before long she found herself in charge. “So it’s just evolved into what I’ve been doing the past several years,” she said.
“I just love it when the festival is being set up in the mornings, and afternoon when the vendors are frying up their meat and nobody’s really there in the audience yet, but they start showing up and there’s an excitement that builds for the music,” Stormer said.
“It’s exciting for me to see volunteers, especially new ones, get excited and just feel the community and just the beauty of the way the whole thing is choreographed,” Stormer said. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been there and watched, but Thursday night the stage goes up, Friday we start rolling in stuff backstage, and every year it’s just like clockwork.”
Support for the festival also comes from many businesses and organizations in the community. Dr. Brett Holden is the coordinator of BGSU’s learning communities and director of the Chapman Learning Community. Students from Chapman have been helping at the festival for many years, and for the last decade have taken charge of the tie-dye activities in the youth arts lineup.
“From the very beginning, we wanted our students involved, especially with the community,” Holden said.
“For me, it’s an opportunity to take a brand-new group of people that have not worked together in the past, especially our first-year students, and really throw them into a wonderfully charged, energized, and positive service engagement,” Holden said.
“I want them to know that they’re part of the Bowling Green community, that they’re not just Falcons on campus, but we have a very special relationship with the town,” Holden said. “And that it’s our responsibility to volunteer and to help make sure that the things that are focused on town engagement and involvement are supported.”
Emily Keegan, co-chair of the festival, has been volunteering at the festival for 20-plus years, starting when she was in high school.
“It’s flat out a fun place to be for the weekend – it’s just enjoyable to be in the environment of the festival,” Keegan said. “Sometimes when people consider volunteering, they might think that it’s not the fun part. But I would argue that that’s not the case. It only amplifies the joy of the weekend by being a part of it.”
The festival brings the community together, Keegan noted, and there are often planned or impromptu reunions and celebrations as friends and family come together to enjoy the event.
“It’s just part of the fabric of our lives here in Bowling Green,” Keegan said. “I hope that this will serve as a reminder that it’s not too late to put in support and sign up for those spots and have fun and make it part of the routine of going.”
Williams, a BGSU alumna and former member of the Falcon marching band, is channeling her passion for the arts and music into her work recruiting and coordinating volunteers for this year’s festival.
“I just want to express extreme gratitude to our community for coming out every year,” Williams said. “It truly is a whole community event that weekend. And, without everyone’s contribution, it wouldn’t be as great of a festival as it is every year.”
