Gainesville’s alternative, punk-music festival is still in need of volunteers.
The Fest 13 is having its last volunteer sign-up meeting tonight at the Holiday Inn on University Avenue at 7 p.m. The Halloween-weekend festival is almost entirely run by volunteers and needs at least 75 more helping hands to check wristbands at doors, load bands on and off stages and more.
“If we don’t get this, we will have to trim,” said Tony Weinbender, Fest’s organizer. “We’re going to have less manpower, womanpower, people-power — that will seriously affect smaller venues drastically who have come to rely during this crazy time of Fest on a team of five volunteers.”
Volunteers work a single shift of five to seven hours in exchange for a pass and a T-shirt. Introducing Bo Diddley Community Plaza as a venue created about 150 extra spots.
Ricky Marrero volunteered at Fest the past two years. He’s been an assistant stage manager at The Wooly and a stage manager.
“I like feeling included in the show, like I helped in some way to make it work,” he said. “It’s definitely a confidence booster. Plus, the free wristband isn’t bad.”
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 10/20/2014]
