Maine is blessed to have many community festivals and heritage events. There are countless stories of first dates at clam festivals or lobster festivals that became marriages. There are numerous firsts that come with community festivals — first fireworks, first fried dough, first carnival ride, first three-legged race, first parade, first muster and first kisses.
Our community events are more than just things that we do; they play active roles in our stories and our history. While some people underestimate the impact of these annual gatherings, those of us who work on them know they are ties that bind our communities together. They are quite literally tangible communing experiences, and they are to be cherished.
However, there were two experiences last week that gave me a staunch reminder that these annual celebrations that may seem inevitable are, in fact, closer than many people realize to being trimmed down, if not ended permanently. All communities have a certain bandwidth that they can maintain; surely, not all events are meant to last forever. However, we may lose some before they have fully run their course, and last week was a good reminder of what impact that could have on the morale and economics of a region.
The first instance was the largely unexpected news of the Great Falls Balloon Festival in Lewiston/Auburn announcing that this year’s event was going to be canceled due in part to lack of sponsorship and low volunteer commitments. I was devastated for those communities and the two dozen nonprofits who rely on this event to fundraise for their missions. For dozens of businesses, this event is one of their busiest weekends, with millions of dollars in economic impact over the decades. I was thrilled to hear just hours later that the City of Lewiston has vowed to make sure the festival will indeed happen this year. So, it appears it was canceled for all of about six hours and it will continue this year, which is superb.
The second instance was at the incredible Miles for Mills 5K/10K race that happened on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in Brunswick. This fundraiser for the Travis Mills Foundation has been happening for a dozen years but only the last three in Brunswick. The event’s namesake was again on-hand thanking the nearly 2,000 runners and volunteers who make the event possible. There was a mix of athletes of all ages, along with veterans running with gear, runners with dogs, hand cyclists, firefighters running with tanks on, and many more, including a man named Nick, a double amputee, who finished over an hour after the leaders with an entourage of a dozen supporters walking with him and celebrating his victory as he wrapped up the race. It was a powerful day.
Both instances taught me the same lesson. As I looked at all the red-shirted volunteers, I noticed one thing in particular: their hair was white. Not exclusively, as there were some younger volunteers, and the Travis Mills Foundation staff are mostly under 40, but if you were to meld all of the volunteers into one archetype, that archetype would be in their late- to mid-50s with tufts of well-kept white hair. If you look around at many of our favorite Maine festivals, you will see it, too.
The majority of our volunteers have been volunteering for years — and they’re happy to. They have been absolutely vital to keeping our groups and organizations going; however, it’s time for that next generations of leaders and volunteers to engage.
I get it. As the dad of a 1-year-old and an almost 3-year-old, while running the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber and also helping manage the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce, I’m very busy, too. I would say that young parents nowadays have at least as many, if not more, demands on their time and energy than parents of previous generations, as there’s just so much more their children are involved in.
However, if we don’t start getting more volunteer engagement in community events now, then some of these events will be annual no longer. And with that, we lose a chance to connect with each other, we lose a chance to commune and build community, and businesses lose money and organizations lose fundraising.
Our opportunities to connect with people who are unlike us are becoming less and less as we continually self-select only the events and activities of interest to us and shrink our bubbles more and more until we surround ourselves with only people that look like us, who have the same likes that we do and who think like us. Community events are some of the rare experiences that draw people from all backgrounds, viewpoints and ages to come together for a fun experience with one another. We cannot afford to lose that.
All of this is not to say that our seasoned volunteers can no longer be just as effective as they’ve always been. In fact, their institutional knowledge of how the intricacies of this event run and how to do processes efficiently are critical to an event running smoothly. Yet, it is time to recognize that just like our businesses need to look at succession plans, so do the volunteer corps of our major events. It’s better if the people who will help run these events in the decades to come work alongside those who created the efficient systems now in place. History can be passed down by working together.
One last pitch for our younger volunteers considering engagement: It’s a great way to meet great people. If you aren’t into bars or churches, (or even if you are) there are few places in real life to meet other adults to grow your friend group. And for our young parents, it’s a great way to instill the value of community into your children. It’s a cycle, and for many of us under 50, it’s our turn to step up.
Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber.
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