June-September Volunteer Update
I know, I know—it’s been another long stretch without a newsletter. In the time since our last one we’ve wrapped up the Levitt Pavilion 2023 season, hosted our historic 40th year of Musikfest, put on the first-ever Vegfest, experienced a washout at Tacofest, brought back Sangriafest, and welcomed our new Volunteer Program Assistant, Kaitlyn DeRemer. Now, we’re taking a breath between the end of the Levitt and the start of Oktobefest.
Musikfest 2023 continued our tradition of breaking records each year, with a new estimated crowd total of 1.3 million visitors, and the 1st Saturday (8/5) became our highest food-and-beverage sales day in the entire history of the festival. That crowd count and those sales don’t get that high without the beer you poured, the questions you answered, and effort you put into making our platzes look spotless. A few other numbers for you: Musikfest 2023 was made possible by the dedication of 1,132 volunteers—which is 184 more friends than last year! It was a whirlwind eleven days and I can’t thank each and everyone one of your part in making this anniversary the success that it was.
There are so many new faces during the festival, and it can be hard to remember everyone who expressed interest in continuing their volunteer journey. If you have any questions about how else you can get involved, please do not hesitate to reach out and connect with someone on our team to keep the good times rolling.
We’re already looking at ways we can improve the experience for next year, including applications and training. Training especially will be a huge focal point for 2024, as we’ll be able to mitigate a lot of issues and miscommunications if everyone is on the same page. Plan ahead now: April is for applications and July is training! You don’t want to miss either if you want your most desired schedule.
Our 2023 Levitt Pavilion season was also a success, especially with newer volunteers! We thank everyone who joined us for the first time and helped pass a green bucket around. There was so much new music to enjoy and lots of lessons learned as we look to improve the training and processes of our longest-running opportunity of the year for next season.
Many of you finally had the chance to work with Parker and Kaitlyn, either during Musikfest or at Sangriafest and Levitt. I’m so proud of what the team was able to accomplish in a really big year and look forward the new heights we can achieve based on these successes. Parker coordinated an incredible 36 groups for Musikfest, and Kaitlyn has been learning as quickly as possible to get our hours and reward programs back up to speed. It feels like we’re finally back in business and able to add more to this program than ever before.
As footballs sail through goalposts and begin to dust off our lederhosen, we turn our attention to Oktoberfest. Our classic German-themed event is back and better than ever before with plenty of opportunities to sign up! We always need help in the beer tents, but we also need help at Retail, the Members seating area, and Pierogipalooza down the street! It’s hard to believe that it’s almost here already, but we be back under taps before you know it.
Thank you for everything that you do,
Cory Stevens
Volunteer Program Manager
