Summerfest at risk
Summerfest in 2022 included a parade through Royal City, as well as food, games and music. But that may be a thing of the past unless folks step up to make this year’s event happen.
File photo
ROYAL CITY — Last July, the streets of Royal City were filled with fun as the town’s annual Summerfest brought out parades, concerts, games and food.
This year, it may not happen.
“Nobody wants to volunteer anymore,” said Carly Smith, the chair of the Summerfest committee. “It can’t be run by four people, and four people only,”
Those four people – Smith, Tiffany Workinger, Sharon Chesterman and Sherrie Rodriguez – have been the entire committee for the last three years, Workinger said, and all have stepped down this year due to other obligations.
“(In the past) it was probably six or seven of us that would meet monthly,” she said. “And then it got down to just the four of us.”
A civic festival takes work to put together, Workinger explained, and while there are people who help with specific areas, someone has to pull all the pieces together.
“The things that are like standard things, like we do the ping pong drop, we do the dinner, we do the breakfast. And there's people who kind of help with those certain things … But then every year you have to bring in bands and get vendors and come up with themes and all of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes throughout the year. It's not such a large amount of work, but it does take somebody that is dedicated to doing it.”
The committee does things like coordinate entertainment, make sure food is available, arrange for the fireworks and things like that, she added. And, of course, make sure everybody gets paid who needs to be.
Part of the festival committee’s work is in picking a theme and adjusting things to match that theme, Workinger said. Past Summerfests have included a Renaissance faire, a Hawaiian beach party and a county fair, she said.
“Last year we did a backyard barbecue,” she said. “It worked, because the people that had been doing the dinner for so long stepped down and a new group, Performance Tire, took over. We had to change the menu to hamburgers and hot dogs anyway, so it just kind of all fit together.”
Time is getting tight, Smith said, and there are things that should have been done already to prepare that nobody has done.
“February is when we send out our donation letters,” she said. “So donations need to start to be handled this month. And if no one starts to get donations, then there won't be any money for Summerfest, which will result in no Summerfest.”
People in the community have offered donations, she added, but what’s needed is people to collect and manage the donations.
Although they can’t do everything, Smith said, the current committee members are willing to help anyone willing to step up and take over and make the transition.
“They can contact me or Tiffany,” she said. “We have a set of questions that we put together for people who think they want to do the chairman's job, to make sure they fully understand what's needed. I mean, you do handle a lot of money, so I can’t just hand it over to anyone who thinks they can do it.”
“You need a leader,” Workinger said. “And probably three or four other people to step in and help get all of the things done.”
“People want to volunteer to do little things right now,” Smith said, “but that's not what we need. Because there's no little activities happening without the whole event of Summerfest happening.”
Joel Martin can be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.