Calgary Folk Music Festival

This past weekend I volunteered for the first time at the Calgary Folk Music Festival, which has been going on for a couple of decades. It's held every year on Prince's Island Park, which is basically a big island in the middle of the Bow River. It seemed like something cheap and fun to do given my unemployment, and a small way of supporting culture in Calgary. Many people think Calgary has no culture, but it's really not true. People just don't get out to experience it, and volunteering is a great way to see behind the scenes. I was very impressed with how organized the festival is. Sometimes when I have volunteered for stuff in the past, no one knew what they were doing or who they should go to. It made everything go so smoothly! Volunteers get a t-shirt, pass to the entire festival and six meals from the volunteer hospitality tent. They were pretty good! I was on the plate recycling crew. The festival sells buckets of melamine plates to the food vendors, who charge people $2 for a plate. When you're done eating, you come see me and get a $2 coin back. When one thinks of how many plates would go to waste during the festival, this is a great idea! The plates are then taken to a nearby hotel who takes care of the washing.